


Those Who Love To Live

by QuillNib (StabMeWithInkAndCallItArt)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Child Abuse, Coming of Age, Dysfunctional Family, F/F, F/M, Homophobic Themes, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Severus Snape Bashing, Sirius Black Centric, Sirius Black is a Little Shit, Slow Burn, The Marauder's First Year, found family trope, jily, tags to be added as story progresses, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:22:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27437269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StabMeWithInkAndCallItArt/pseuds/QuillNib
Summary: Following Sirius from his time as a child and receiving his letter, the nature of the Black family that molds him for better or worse, how he and James become brothers, how he falls in love and has his heart broken, discovering his own strengths and weaknesses, and how all of it turns him from a boy into a man.This is a wolfstar fanfic but it's gonna take its sweet time, character focus is heavy on Sirius and his life as a whole and how the experiences he goes through shape him. There is cannon divergence but it's not ground breaking, largely fannon inspired from several sources as well as my own, and my friend's, head cannons.This is book/part one of many parts.
Relationships: Fleamont Potter/Euphemia Potter, Lily Evans/James Potter, Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes, Remus Lupin/Mary Macdonald, Sirius Black & James Potter, Sirius Black & Remus Lupin, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Walburga Black/Orion Black
Comments: 12
Kudos: 18





	1. The Black Banquet

**Author's Note:**

> I have only my best friend to blame for my newfound obsession with the wizarding world, and consequently the very queer relationships therein. Please accept this first chapter with a grain of salt, I’ve only seen the sorcerer’s stone once some 3 years ago and I’m currently reading chamber of secrets.

As heir to the most ancient and noble house of Black, Sirius Black, at the great age of eleven, found himself in the most inevitable situation of his life. He stood in front of a thin body length mirror that’s been hung on the toilet door, dressed in a suit his mother was forcing him to wear. This, the result of a late coming letter and hastily planned dinner to honor his acceptance to Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The hour he turned from ten to eleven he fully expected his letter to arrive that same day, as had his parents, nosy little brother, and their elderly house elf whose eyes were too big for his head. While the birthday was spent celebrating in a rather somber manner, everyone’s mind was given too much time to think about the letter, and how it wasn’t arriving. 

“I don’t see a single owl outside and it’s already past four,” Regulus had announced. 

Sirius’s mother, a long legged porcelain skinned woman by the name Walburga, had been prickly about the topic and spat anytime _the letter_ was mentioned yet still had not arrived. She would also whisper, “Bloody Dumbledore,” under her breath in the most hateful way. Not that she isn’t naturally prickly or hateful all on her own. 

Her husband was of a calmer more contained nature, but prickly as well. Orion Black only spoke when it was necessary or when he found the topic of discussion to be one of his interests; which were few and unusual. Sirius has only had a handful of conversations with his father about genetics, where babies come from, and what it meant to uphold the family name. Sirius had only been interested to know where babies come from. 

It wasn’t until late June of the year following his eleventh birthday that the letter arrived by owl. His mother’s shrieks burst through the house when she found it on the floor mixed in with the Daily Prophet, a citation for the attempted purchase of an illegal potion ingredient, and a correspondence reply from Lycoris Black’s ghost to Orion. 

“Sirius! It’s here! Hurry and come here, your acceptance letter has arrived! Hurry and come downstairs!” Her shrill voice drew the young man from where he was slouched in bed. Idly he had been reading to Kreacher from a potions book on nedebt juice while the elf folded his laundry. Nedebt was a powerful concoction, clearly meant for a potions master, that can separate the ghost from a living person. Otherwise known as the Out of Body Experience so many muggles refer to. 

Sirius had thrown the book aside and tore downstairs nearly slipping on the polished hardwood in his socks. 

“Give it here! _I_ want to read it!” He said. 

But Walburga tore it open the moment his foot hit the wooden downstairs floor, and read it out loud as though she were the one who’d been accepted. She even kept him blocked with one arm and held the letter up in the air to stop him as he grasped for it. 

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Black,  
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
Terms begin September 1. We await your owl by no later than August 1. 

Yours sincerely, 

Minerva McGonagall

_Deputy Headmistress_

That was last week. 

Now Sirius was in front of a body length mirror grimacing at the sight of himself in a suit. He thought he looked hideous. It pinched in awkward places and was loose in others. 

“That’s how it’s supposed to be, stop squirming,” his mother said. 

Walburga had taken him to the tailor the same hour his letter arrived (they also sent out an owl within minutes of reading it) but he was disgruntled by the idea of dressing up to have dinner at home with his far too melancholy family who all looked like they might crack if they were dropped. 

“Mum this is ridiculous, I don’t want to have dinner with everyone. There’s no point. And grandpa Arcturus always makes fun of how short I am, and he stands too close,” he said. 

“Hush, this isn’t just about you, your cousins got their letters for this year as well and Andromeda is starting her seventh year, it’s all very important family affairs. You’ll understand when you get older. Now hold still, I won’t tell you again.” She said, and tugged on his lapels twice, very hard, and he was forced to step forward with each yank. 

“But they’re strange. Bellatrix smells like old slugheads, and Narcissa is- well you know how she is. Why can’t they have their own dinner party separate from mine?”

“Sirius, not another word. This is a tradition that goes back generations, it's always been this way. I had this honor, your father had this honor, your father's father, and his father before him, and his father before him. Your cousins are attending. You’ll be civil, and you’ll keep your nasty comments to yourself. If I hear you moaning or complaining one bit you’ll go without dinner for a week.” Her thin lips pressed even thinner, and if it weren’t for her pitch dark lipstick he supposed her lips would’ve turned white with the pressure. 

Walburga’s threat didn’t go unheeded, at least for a while. He did shut his mouth just then if only to appease her but he desperately wished for her to embarrass herself this evening, especially since his grandfathers and great uncles would be attending. If she were to say, swallow a fly and buzz when she tried to speak, or sneeze so hard the dishes blew away, he would find the dinner worthy of his time. 

“By Merlin, Sirius, when was the last time you’ve had a haircut? It’s almost past your ears now. I knew we should’ve done something about this before tonight, I don’t know why I keep forgetting. We’ll just have to charm it back.” She drew out her wand from a fold within her dress and gave it a little wave. In the mirror he watched his raven black hair twist up in a neat style that made him look not at all like himself. Too much like a pompous rat, he thinks. 

“I like it,” he said. 

“You look like a girl,” she said.

Sirius frowned at himself in the mirror, at the stupid butterfly collar of his button up black shirt, and at the stupid flare of his pants around his ankles. It might not be so bad to be a girl once in a while, people tend to be nicer to girls, and his mother always treats his cousins much nicer than she treats him. 

He wondered how much longer this arm twisting torture would last, and Walburga, it seemed, was not nearly done. She coached him on how to address his grandparents and great uncles, because the last time he had met them he was barely old enough to remember and thus had no need for manners. Although now he needed them, 

“Desperately so,” Walburga said. 

“Mum, Auntie Druella and them are here.” Regulus, who was also outfitted in a sharp suit with the same style collar, swung the door open and interrupted their session. Sirius would have to thank him for that later somehow. He was starting to choke on his own frustration when she relentlessly corrected his tone. He couldn’t help that she misinterpreted his annoyance for attitude. 

“Bloody hell, already? Let’s go then, and remember your manners boys. Sirius chin up, you’re a Black. Act like one,” she said. Smoothing her dress she quickly checked her teeth for stains before rushing them all down to the parlor. 

All the way there he considered what it meant to ‘act like a Black’. There were all sorts of answers that popped up in his head some he thought were funny, others were a bit dull, but ultimately he came to the conclusion that if he sat still and said mean things about muggles that should qualify. 

Sirius hung back a few steps beside his brother, and was already fidgeting with his cuffs. He tugs at the links and almost pulls one open. 

“Don’t, you’ll upset mum.” Regulus whispered, waving his hand for him to stop. Sirius only nudged him aside with his elbow and Regulus nudged him back a little harder until their aunt, uncle, and cousins came into view. Smoothing their coats they stood at attention like they were supposed to. 

“Druella, Cygnus. You look like your usual selves, staying healthy I see,” that’s a dig at their appearance, “as are your little ones,” Walburga said to her brother and sister-in-law. A certain undertone in her voice was notably condescending, especially as she eyeballed a plump little Narcissa. Her cheeks are squishier than the last time Sirius saw her. 

“Hullo auntie Walburga,” Bellatrix said. Her wild black curls were hardly tamed into some sort of updo and Sirius was briefly jealous that he had to charm his hair when she didn’t have to even try. 

Surveying her three nieces, to Walburga it was obvious one of the three was the odd one out, who, much like Sirius, did not want to be there. Andromeda Black looked like she had much better things to do than spend an evening with her odd extended family. She looked elegant even compared to her mother. She probably much rather be studying or sending owls to that secret boyfriend of hers she mentioned in her last letter to him. 

“The boys look presentable for once, but where is the man of the house? I’m sure you’ve run Orion off into the smoking den again,” Cygnus said. He had no joking tone, and Sirius knew his family too well to wonder if he was being playful. 

The nature of these meetings have always been contemptuous and Sirius sometimes took mental notes of things that annoyed his mother. At the last family gathering his Uncle Ignacius mentioned how his hair had gotten a bit long and he needed to cut it. Walburga had nearly lost her mind with lies about ‘we’re getting it done tomorrow’. Somehow, though, the more Sirius didn’t want scissors near his head the more she kept forgetting to take him to a barber. 

Walburga gave her brother a less than amused glance before turning to fully reveal her two children who were hiding somewhat behind her skirts. 

“Boys, go show your cousins to the dining room and see to it they know where to sit,” there was more she wasn’t saying. Sirius could see she had something she wanted to discuss with her brother and sister-in-law but kept it from their ears. 

“We sit on our butts don’t we? Unless this will be a messy dinner and we can sit on our heads and eat with our feet. I haven’t got any socks so it’ll be easy for me. You lot will be the messy ones.” Bellatrix lifted up her onyx black dress skirt to reveal her bare feet. There, on the hardwood floor her toes wiggled and Druella only looked tired at the young girl's antics. 

“Don’t show anyone your bare feet, Bell. It isn’t proper,” Druella said just before Sirius guided the three girls to the dining room. 

It was funny how his uncle thinks that he and Regulus are never presentable when he has a daughter like that. He ought to take a look at his own strange family before judging his sister’s. Not that there aren’t plenty of things Sirius thinks he can judge. He could hand over a book titled ‘Things to Judge the Black Family on’ and it might take Cygnus months to read from one cover to the other. 

Sirius looked at the three girls with a blank stare that hid his disgust when Bellatrix got too close. When she passed him he let his expression crack just enough that he heard Andromeda snort before she quickly covered her mouth and looked back at their parents. 

They hadn’t been noticed and the small pack of children were off to the spacious dining room set up for some seventeen guests. Seventeen of the most insufferable people Sirius has ever had the displeasure of associating with. He looked forward to boarding at Hogwarts and at last getting time away from his over involved mother and less than interested father. 

“I guess you can sit wherever. Gran and Gramps on mum's side are sitting here, and dad's side is over there.” He pointed to the center middle seats at the table. 

“Mum said we have to sit next to dad on the right, but she didn’t say anything about you,” Sirius lied. They were supposed to sit on his father’s left. He just wanted to see Bellatrix get in trouble. 

“But mum said- ouch!” Regulus yelped when Sirius stomped on his toe. 

***

Family began to arrive by the handful after that and Sirius found himself keeping company with Andromeda to stay out of the way. They took to complaining about their clothes. She was done up in a tight black and green dress with plenty of silver buttons and embellishments. 

“They just want me to represent Slytherin I think. House pride and all that,” she said. Their grandfather Pollux went past them not noticing they were there and Sirius relaxed. 

“Not that I mind of course. There’s no issue with Slytherin, I just would’ve liked the blue one better. It looked nicer with the silver buttons,” she continued. Showing him her fancy wrist cuff and the mushroom topped silver button he spared a glance. He didn’t much care if her dress was green or blue though. 

Sirius did mind, however, the idea of being in Slytherin. He minds very much actually. Because every last one of the Black family members have been Slytherin and every last one of the Black family members are, in his opinion, horrid. He didn’t doubt his other cousins would be sorted there too, he dreaded the idea of fitting inside the serpent mold his family has been cast from for so long. 

He hated the thought of growing up to be like his parents, or his aunts and uncles. Everything about them is so uptight he bet they could break a wand by clenching their-

“Sirius my boy, congratulations. I heard ye got yer letter just last week. What an honor,” 

Sirius brightened at the sight of his Uncle Alphard and stood up a little straighter. Suddenly filled with pride as he made himself ready for inspection Alphard was one of the two only relatives he could really stand to call pleasant company. 

“I start September first,” he said. 

“And ye’ll be first on the express there I don’t doubt,” he said. Clapping a hand down on his shoulder the boy wobbled a little under the impact but didn’t falter. 

“C’mon ye two, looks like they’re all settling in for the first course,”

Kreacher moved around the table pulling out the chairs for each guest, and as he hoped, Bellatrix got in trouble. But not for sitting in the wrong seat. She climbed into her chair and made a genuine attempt to sit on her head and put her feet on the table. 

Sirius might have been impressed with her flexibility if he didn’t have to see her underwear. He and Regulus exchanged disgusted looks as the first course was set out by their house elf and Bellatrix was properly scolded. 

A small plate of salad was dropped on top of his place setting and he picked up the corresponding fork. An act done under his father's watchful eye before he noticed his Grandpa Arcturus was watching too. The old leathery man’s gaze was heavy, much like his fathers, and he hated the weight of it. 

“Are you excited to be in Slytherin, Sirius? There is a room in the dungeons close to the Potion Master’s room, it would only be a minute’s walk to class.” His uncle Ignatius said. 

“I think they’re a nasty lot.” He didn’t bother to censor himself as he prods a cranberry raisin around with his salad fork. Already forgetting his mother’s coaching on how to behave he looks up when there’s a befuddled sputter. 

“That’s a crude thing to say young man,” his uncle spits, ”And at a dinner celebrating you and your cousins who will be going into the Slytherin House no less.” His eyebrows pinched together in a displeased frown. All the better, Sirius thinks, as he crosses his arms and glares back just as annoyed. 

“I’m going to Hogwarts that has _four_ Houses, it’s not like there’s only one I could be sorted into,” 

“You would do yourself a favor in biting your tongue,” his uncle said before scoffing and leaning back in his chair. 

He ought to swallow the fly, Sirius thought, and Walburga ought to sneeze and blow away the dishes. 

Rather than put up with the attitude, Ignatius speaks to one of his darling nieces who would be more than eager to agree to anything he had to drool out about Slytherin. Advice on how to woo the potions master into gaining their House more points, and how to pester others into losing points was a hit topic between him and Narcissa. Andromeda kept quiet and took tiny bites of her salad as she nodded or shook her head to Great Aunt Dorea’s questions about her plans for the future. 

She quietly admits her idea to move out with a ‘friend’ whose name she repeatedly failed to mention. Not but a few minutes later she explains her desire for a family of her own someday. It’s girl stuff, and Sirius stops listening when Dorea mentions her children will be Slytherin too. 

“It’s in our blood,” the old hag wheezed. 

Sirius hasn’t even gotten his school supplies yet and he’s already sick of hearing about what House he’ll be in. His cousins didn’t question things like he did, although Andromeda acted a little dumb. She played a rather ingenious yes man to survive these dinner parties. But the other two didn’t have opinions, if they did he might worry what they turned out to be. 

Sirius endured conversation with his Grandma Irma who was too close in image and mannerisms to his mother for him to be comfortable. He did little to restrain his attitude with her. The old bag of air was hardly worth listening to anyway, she had nothing to say he was interested in. 

Everything was ‘mudbloods this’ and ’mudbloods that’, it was all the boy could do to not kick his grandma’s shin under the table and blame Kreacher for it. For as much as his family detested muggle born wizards he was becoming very much inclined to meet one for himself and see what all the fuss was about. 

The next course of the meal was brought out and Sirius’ mouth watered when a fat, medium rare, well seasoned steak was plopped on his plate for the main course. All manner of side dishes appeared on the table from green beans, hasselback sweet potatoes, glazed and grilled carrots, Yorkshire pudding, pumpkin pasties, garlic and herb mash, butterbeer, and more. The dishes hovered around the table in a lazy Susan fashion so there was no reaching across the table or asking for something to be passed. 

Sirius’ eyes almost weren’t big enough to take it all in. By the scratching of his stomach he’d say he had enough room for a little of everything. 

“ _Pasties_ ,” Regulus drooled from beside him. 

To repay his brother for interrupting the awful manners lesson in the bathroom, Sirius reaches up when the plate passes him and grabs a handful of pasties. 

“Hey! Oh-” Regulus looked stunned when his older brother dropped them all onto his plate. Half a dozen filled up what remaining space he had for side dishes. 

The adults around the table muttered in their dreary voices about how Hogwarts should only teach pure blooded witches and wizards. A topic that didn’t concern Sirius very much, so he didn’t listen. Instead he filled his plate with one of everything then began to stuff his face. 

He knew there were pure bloods, like himself, and the mudbloods who were half and half, or who had no magical relatives at all. Those kind interested him the most if he had to pick. They were the total opposite of a squib, and even squibs were interesting in their own right. 

What confused him though, was this: what does blood have to do with magic unless it’s being used in a potion or spell? He wondered if he was any more magical than a muggle born wizard because of his heritage. It didn’t make sense why the stuff that leaks out of him when he scrapes his knee is any better. Is it worth more? He paused at the thought of someone trying to stick him with a needle to steal his blood to sell. 

“-and you heard about that problem in the forest lately? There’s got to be an entire pack by now. Someone ought to start hunting them. They’ve already proven themselves dangerous after that one boy was attacked,” Cygnus said. 

“Hunt what?” Regulus asked. 

He got a few dirty looks but Alphard answered. 

“Werewolves, there’s a whole pack of ‘em in the woods by the school,”

“It’s silver bullets that kill a werewolf right?” Narcissa asked. 

Alphard nodded and the others steamrolled the conversation again with different ways to kill or maim monsters like that. Word of silver plated jaw traps and hexed moon powder went around. 

Sirius didn’t care much for sport hunting, or hunting at all really. He knew nothing about it and had no intention of changing. All it takes is a silver bullet to put one in the ground, there was no need to be fancy about it. He went back to day dreaming about all the new kinds of people he’d meet that his mother and father would disapprove of. He fully intended on making friends with every last single half blood he could find. Walburga would faint probably. He’d like to see that. 

He continued to think up a list of other things that might make her faint when his leg was kicked. 

“Ow! What was that for?” He looked over at Regulus who pointed at their father, who was staring directly at him in that prickly Black fashion. 

“I asked if you were interested in playing quidditch for Slytherin,” 

“Maybe, but not for Slytherin,” he blurted. 

Walburga slammed her palm on the table and gave him an insane wide eyed look, her dark plucked eyebrows were halfway up her forehead. That in itself was quite the outburst, especially in front of the grandparents. Sirius knew she wouldn’t yell at him in front of them though, and he decided to find out just how much he could get away with. 

“If not for Slytherin, then who for?” Grandpa Arcturus asked. 

“Not sure, I don’t know what House I’ll be sorted into until I get there,”

Uncle Ignacio rolled his eyes at the statement and rather methodically sank the prongs of his fork into a piece of meat. Red juice squished out, and Sirius could help but feel like that piece of meat with all the eyes stabbing into him so suddenly. 

“Nonsense Sirius, you’re a Black, you’ll be sorted into Slytherin,” his Great Aunt Cassiopea said. 

He was going to argue when a heavy look from his father weighed him down with his first and only warning. Not that Sirius cared. 

“Just because my last name is the same as yours doesn’t mean we’re the same person. What if I’m put in Hufflepuff?”

“Sirius,” a verbal warning from his mother got his attention and he shut up at that. Though not without a foul look her way, and not without her sour faced glare back at him. Anything more out of his mouth and he might have been dragged from the table by his ears and hexed. 

Conversation moved on. 

“Have you heard the Potters have a son going in this year?” 

“Tuh, you mean Fleamont and Euphemia’s little monster is eleven now? I find it hard to believe a family like that is pure blooded,” his Aunt Lucretia said. 

“The Potters? What a nasty bunch, I hear they don’t even have family banquets! What pure bloods don’t have family banquets?” Bellatrix said. 

“No they don’t,” Druella agreed. 

“They’re socially crippled I’d say. What honest pure blooded family doesn’t hold a family banquet for their new student?” Walburga said. 

Sirius would much rather be a Potter if it meant he could escape this.

His grandfather on his mother’s side, Pollux, has a nasty glare about him that made Sirius feel a bit like he was cross with him every time they met eyes. Maybe it was about that business he stirred up about his House sorting. Unless he could read minds and heard his brief wish to be a Potter. 

Dinner goes on without many more incidents. Bellatrix is a pain, and his uncle Alphard makes a few funny side comments that earn him displeased glares much like the ones Sirius is growing accustomed to. He thinks maybe he should keep his mouth shut and play yes man like Andromeda but certain topics him too much to simply let things go. 

After dinner and everyone has had their fill of the main course and treacle pudding, the party moves into the sitting parlor where Sirius is placed beside Narcissa on the floor. The emerald carpet is soft and they’re ducks in a row to be handed gifts as the large sum of adults shift about on the sofa and various arm chairs.

As per Black family tradition each of the three will be awarded a single gift each. Typically it’s school supplies, but word was that Cassiopea had been gifted an Anything Charms Crystal. A rare type of magical artifact that helps the user perform any charm with ease. That’s without saying Hogwarts now has an effective ban on students bringing in magical items that can help them cheat in class. 

Sirius hopes his Uncle Alphard is the one who was tasked with his gift, but Bellatrix waits for no one. She is handed a wrapped box by Grandma Irma, and tears into it the moment it’s in her hands. 

She holds up a red feathered quill with a golden tip. Although upon further inspection the gold has intricate filigree carved shallowly. It’s very pretty, and looks expensive. A lavish gift that probably cost more than some people‘s house notes and it became even more amazing when she pulled out an inkwell that got the adults squirming in their seats. 

“It’s ink from a giant squid mixed with forget me not flowers, you write with that and you’ll remember exactly everything you’ve written for a whole week. It’ll come quite in handy when your finals approach,” Grandma Irma said. 

“Oh I wish I had that. I would have taken advantage of it every chance I got,” Andromeda said. 

“I wanted Exploding Snap not this remember ink. This is no good,” Bellatrix whined. 

Sirius rolled his eyes at her before watching Narcissa open her gift next to give her sister no time to pitch a fit. A fantastically crafted pewter cauldron fit nicely in the cup of both her hands. Perfect for first year potions class and with a tap of a wand and a spoken ‘engorgio’ it could grow big enough to fit a hippogriff inside. 

Andromeda got a lovely telescope as she had expressed her wish to make top marks in astronomy class in her final year. She was bested only by some Ravenclaw by a few points. Already she owns every volume of ‘The Planets as Wizards and Witches Know Them’. She’s read them all at least six times through and even lent the first thick volume to Sirius, but only under the condition that he read it in front of her so he didn’t soil it with his dirty boy’s hands. 

To Sirius’ dismay, Walburga stepped forward to hand him a box, wrapped just like the others. If she had been in charge of his gift there was no doubt it would be something for potions class, or perhaps a Slytherin broach for his robes. Neither of which he wanted. 

“What did you get? Hurry up Siri, open it,” Regulus said. His brother got too close in his eager state and he had to push him back a bit. 

“Alright alright I’m opening it.” Sirius began to tear off the black wrapping paper. 

The grown ups all snickered at his decorative timekeeper on a chain. A bit confused he held it up by its golden chain in question. 

“It is a time turner?” He asked, the little sand timer in the center portion didn’t have the tell tale twisting or spinning ability. It could only flip to reset. 

“No, it’s a two minute timekeeper. So when you’re not home you’ll still know how much time you’re wasting,” Walburga said. She had an amused grin about her as she glanced sidelong at her relatives who also appeared amused by the ironic gift. If it could even be called a gift. 

Sirius knew how to ruin the arrogant mood, and he opened his mouth to do just that. 

“Is it a muggle time piece?” 

“Absolutely not,” she snapped, “what a disgusting idea!” The half grin dropped from his mother’s lips almost instantly to be replaced by a sneer. 

His uncle Alphard chuckled quietly to himself and Sirius grinned as conversation arose about how useless muggle things were and how they had no place in magical homes. By the look on Grandpa Arcturus’ red face he flustered the old man rather well. 

Sirius let Regulus play with his timekeeper, and Bellatrix ‘spilled’ her special ink on Narcissa’s dress. Although both were black and you would only know there had been an incident if you brushed against the stain. It was wet and runny, and Narcissa cried until her mother waved her wand to have it removed then put back in the bottle. 

The eldest Black son stood over his younger brother for a while and watched as the sand timer ran out several times and each time Regulus flipped it. He might give it to him if he likes it so much. 

“Do ye want to see a muggle timekeeper?” A voice whispered behind him. 

Sirius looked over his shoulder to see his uncle Alphard with a telltale mischievous grin. 

He nodded quickly and was pulled aside from the others before revealing an odd little trinket. It was smooth and round on one side, and on the other it had a deeply intricate design of a snake surrounded by roses. Sirius would worry about carrying around a thing like that, what if one day the snake no longer wanted to stay there and leapt to but your finger? 

To his amazement, the animal didn’t move and the roses didn’t sway in some invisible breeze. It was totally frozen. 

“Is it petrified?” He asked quietly. 

“Muggle things don’t move,” Alphard said. 

It also has a chain, but when his uncle pressed on a little nib at the top the outside casting popped open. Revealing a face with markings and three different little pointers that all ticked at different speeds. 

“How does it work?” 

The man graciously explained the function of the thing before setting it in Sirius’s small palm. 

“Why don’t ye hold onto this for me eh? Something to remember me by while you’re away. Just don’t let on about it to your mother that I gave it to ye.” Sirius clasped it tight in his fiat before nodding. His uncle tapped a finger to his nose and Sirius mirrored the gesture that meant it was now their secret. 

“She’ll never see it as long as I’m alive,” 

Alphard grinned and gave him a pat on the shoulder then returned to the party.


	2. Diagon Alley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m so excited i hope you guys like the chapter! some of you may raise your eyebrow at my choice for sirius’ wand but there’s a reason why i did what i did  
> this is just as much cannon compliant as it is divergent, just bear with me please!

In the days since the family banquet, Sirius has run around the entirety of 12 Grimmauld Place playing Hexes and Charms with his little brother. Tearing up and down the corridors the portraits of their ancestors watched them closely, and hollered when one of the boys knocked into a frame. Their great great grandfather, Phineas the First, had run from his portrait into a painting of a field when they got too close and nearly knocked him off the wall. 

The brothers used toothbrushes for wands and dueled to the death, or until Kreacher came upon them saying they’ve upset the misses with their noise. Apparently shouting “ _impirio!”_ at the top of your lungs at your little brother was ‘unacceptable behavior’. Sirius got the slap of a lifetime for even knowing the curse, and then a second for doing it to his brother. 

It wasn’t long after that the two were dressed in uncomfortable public attire once more. He looked like he was going to a funeral, not because of the dark clothes, but because of his grim expression. And maybe a little because of his dark clothes. He only just managed to keep Walburga away from his hair too. He was in no mood for her to slick it all back with that stupid charm. 

When Sirius looked in the mirror and saw his growing black locks he wasn’t sure what he felt, but he liked that it agitated Walburga so much (his uncle also had long hair that agitated her, “men should have short hair, they look scroungy otherwise!”). He also liked that he could use conditioner in the shower to slick it up into a spike at the front of his head like a unicorn. 

Tidied up in his best clothes, no matter which way you looked at him, he looked like he had been born and bred in wealth. This was one fact of life he didn’t mind so much. There were very few things he wanted that he didn’t get, only during punishment was he denied certain things. While severe the punishments weren’t long, unless Walburga has it in mind to torture him with boredom, then after he would be offered what he desired. More often than not he turned it down as his enthusiasm for the thing had died. 

Had he still wanted it though, it would have been no financial woe. But it wasn’t beneath Sirius to curse his own name and only get himself deeper in trouble. 

“You’re a Black,” his father said, not long after the family banquet ended, “a pure-blood, and my son. You need to take unapologetic pride in your heritage and wear it like a badge of honor. We are royalty in this world of magic, and you are a prince. There will be peasant muggle borns and half breeds crawling all over that school. So you take your pride, and your power that surpasses theirs, and crush them with it. They are beneath you my boy, never forget it.

“There will come a day when you will tell your son these things too, and instill in him the same pride I’m giving you. As the eldest boy of the five of you, your cousins included, it will be up to you to ensure that pride is not lost. You are the heir to our house, family, and bloodline. Think about that the next time you’re about to say something shameful.”

Except, as he looked at himself, Sirius felt no pride in his stupid white collared shirt, or the black silk cravat that his mother tried to strangle him with when she put it on him. In fact, he felt considerably embarrassed as he followed his mother to the family study, still frowning. Regulus though didn’t seem quite so bothered by the outfit he had to wear as he trailed behind them. Regulus was just air headed enough things like that didn’t get under his skin. 

The family study is a typically empty place. There were old chairs nearly dry rotted beyond use, but were without a speck of dust. The red oak end tables were perfectly polished, and the candles’ wicks haven’t yet been blacked with the touch of a flame. There was also a massive portrait of Sirius Black the First, a cranky old man who sat at his tea-table with the angriest sneer and flattest hair Sirius has ever seen. If he or Regulus lingered for too long the portrait would hurl insults at them until they left. 

The family study, however, is where the biggest fireplace resides. Grand and open-mouthed inside the wall, it’s stone frame was meticulously engraved with stone snakes. From it’s marbled tiles at the floor to the molding of the little plaster imps that held up the mantle, it had been crafted to custom order. 

On occasion the imps got tired of holding up the mantle and would wander around the house to Sirius in trouble for taking sweets in the dead of night, or getting into his mother’s jewelry. They had even pierced, successfully, one of his ears in his sleep. Sirius woke up crying in a fit and flung out a hand to shoo them away. Instead he had turned them to stone without meaning to. 

“Remember to speak clearly and focus on Pottage’s Cauldron Shop, we’re going there first.” Walburga said as she gave Sirius a generous amount of floo powder. 

“Can we go to the owl emporium too?” Regulus asked. 

“Can we go to the owl emporium too?” The portrait mocked. “Puh! When I went to Hogwarts no one write to me, and no one will write to you. Owls are useless! And you,” he turned to Sirius, “why are you so short?”

She ignored them both and held out an arm to make Regulus step back. 

“Diagon Alley!” Sirius said and he threw the powder at his feet, trying hard to dirty himself a bit, or brush against the side of the fireplace for a spot of soot. Green flames licked up all around him in a great flash and he disappeared. The familiar feeling of being stretched out and swallowed up went racing up the back of his legs. It even raised the baby hairs at the base of his scalp and along his nape. 

Appearing in the cauldron shop he stepped out of the fireplace still clean. He had just thought to rub himself against the side wall of the fireplace when Mr. Potage spotted him. 

“Mr. Black,” Mr. Potage greeted from behind his counter some shelves away. There were cauldrons of every size, shape, and type. The displays were wonky and overstocked, some to the point of a cauldron was removed the entire shelf would collapse. Others have been stacked precariously high and there were a few so large Sirius could climb into them. 

“Will your parents be joining you?” Mr. Potage asked, his face faltered slightly and he wrung his hands. He sounded rather strained about it in an unpleasant way. 

“Only my mum and brother,” he said. 

“Eleven at last then are you?” 

Sirius nodded and behind him there was a woosh of green fire and his brother stumbled out of the fireplace looking sick. His soft rose-tinted cheeks were now rather green. 

“I’ll never get used to it,” Regulus said grimly. Putting a hand over his mouth his face pinched as if he was about to be sick. 

Sirius was quick to throw an arm around his shoulder to steer him in the direction of the golden self stirring cauldrons. Easily worth fifty galleons, or ninety, it would be the world's most expensive bed pan. 

“If you need to puke, do it in these,” he said. 

“Sirius, cut it out I don’t feel good,” Regulus said. He seemed to pale even more at the rough guidance he received, and a third rush of green flames had their attention quicker than if they had been whipped. 

Sirius at once let go and they adjusted themselves. 

Walburga stepped out as if she were some sort of phantom, smooth and with a pinched look of inexhaustible indignation. She spotted them by the most expensive cauldrons and her eyes widened dangerously, and nostrils flared in precursor to her fury. 

“Get over here. What are you two doing? This isn’t the time to be childish we have things to do and I will not be here all day,”

“But mum, it’s always time to be childish if you’re a child,” Regulus said. He had a rather playful smile and faux innocent air about him. Hs recovered so easily from his nausea Sirius wondered if he was faking. 

Regulus received a venomous look for his back talk and the smile slipped away. 

“Stand up straight Sirius I didn’t raise you just to see you could slouch. You’re short enough as it is. Shoulders back chin up,” she said. Four foot seven is plenty tall for an eleven year old, he thought. Just because she and Orion walk around on stilted legs doesn’t mean he’ll be a great big lumbering giant. Not that five foot ten is lumbering. It’s all relative. 

“Mrs. Black, c-can I help you find a-anything?” Mr. Potage stammered through a put on smile. He chanced a look at the two rather forlorn boys and it faltered at the sight of them. 

“Could I interest you in a p-perhaps in a pewter cauldron stand size two?” He grabbed one from the back wall and sold it to her in that same breath. 

Caldron in hand Sirius walked beside his mother, with his shoulders back and chin up, as they moved from shop to shop. Eyes from every direction seemed to catch on the three and he noticed how Walburga would grab his and Regulus’ shoulder when certain people walked by. He wasn’t sure how she was able to judge when to grab but he expected she had some bat-like sixth sense. Maybe she could smell when half breeds or muggle borns were near. 

Some of them though it was easy to tell, the adults would have a look of bland underwhelming contempt, or utter terror. Usually couples with a younger child looked more terrified. 

“Bloody muggle-born wretches. Don’t look, they’re not worth it,” Walburga stopped him from looking at a boy with sun red hair and two parents who were arguing about whether they should go to a second-hand store for robes or buy them new. 

The three took a turn on the and Regulus started to shake Sirius’ arm wildly. 

“Olivander’s! We’re going to Olivander’s! ” He hissed under his breath. 

As a first year Sirius would in fact need a wand of his own for spell casting and things of the like. Already, he could do magic like making his mother forget his hair needed trimming, moving chess pieces without touching them, or turning plaster imps to stone. It was all small potatoes though when compared to the abilities a wand granted a wizard. Wandless magic is not so common in adults as it is in children anyway. But the instrument itself opens the door too much more complicated and powerful spells that would be otherwise impossible without one. 

The brothers at night would sneak into each other’s beds with _The Wide Book of Wands by Wilfred Rumnibble_ and speculate about the best combinations. Yew with unicorn hair core, phoenix feather with aspen, or dragon heart string with cherry. Always, they picked and memorized the rarest and most powerful woods. Yew and its fearsome nature was prone to the dark arts but just as well a great protector, when paired with the unicorn’s hair, it was the perfect wand for a witch or wizard most loyal. Aspen, for its extraordinary accomplishments in offensive and defensive combat, and when paired with the talented phoenix feather could do a great deal. And finally cherry simply because of its lethality when paired with a dragon heart string core. 

They also committed to memory the qualities of each wand core: the loyal and protective unicorn hair that is also sometimes rather sensitive to mistreatment. The powerful and volatile dragon heart string that can turn dark the easiest, though not on its own. And the phoenix feather, the greatest of the three cores in Regulus’ opinion as it has the broadest abilities, and, when paired with the proper wood type, could be the most powerful wand ever made. 

Sirius himself was also inclined to say he favored a feather core, but not for its wide array of abilities. He liked its spunky nature and how it sometimes acted out on its own. Had he known better he would’ve said he liked them for their independence. Imagine that. 

“This way.” Walburga ushered them into Olivander’s and Regulus immediately grabbed at a box to look inside but the back of his hand got slapped and he put it back. 

“Ah, young Mr. Black I was wondering when you’d show up, just wait ‘ere a minute I’ll go and fetch it.” Olivander, a scraggly old man, climbed down the latter he was on before disappearing around a tall shelf. His white hair had an untamed nature about it that he knew must bother his mother a whole lot. 

“I’ve been waiting a while for you to show up, and ever so curious about what might suit you. Here, red oak and phoenix feather core, ten inches. Give it a wave,” he said. Thrusting the box into Sirius’s hands the boy opens it and gives it a little unsure flick. 

“Like you mean it,” his mother says. 

“No no not that one. Wait a moment. I had been so sure.” Olivander snatched it away and disappeared behind one of the many high shelves. Grabbing another box he returned and held it out, hands nearly wringing with interest. 

“Supple yew, phoenix core, twelve inches.” Sirius took it out and gave a firmer wave. Nothing really extraordinary happened and Olivander took that one away as well with a deeper frown. 

“Third time’s the charm, go on and give it a go.” He said. Leaving and returning for a third time he held out a box. 

“Aspen, dragon heart string core, eleven inches.” Sirius took it out and felt the tingling of magic rush through him like a warm wave. 

“Aspen? What Black has an aspen wand? Don’t you have any blackthorn? Redwood?” Walburga asked. 

“I’m sure you know that’s not how this works Mrs. Black,” Olivander said.Clasping his hands with a satisfied grin he looked down at Sirius very oddly with a soft grin and sweet eyes. 

“Sirius Black I will certainly be expecting to hear great things about you one day. If there is a dueling class available when you begin your third year, I advise you take it,”

The old man had a lack of fear for his mother that he respected very much, and he would indeed sign up for dueling when he got the chance. Regulus pulled on his arm to see the wand and Sirius showed him its long white body and twisted handle that was easy to grip. It was as white and polished as ivory, imagine the looks he’ll get for such a thing in charms class. 

“Dragon heart string? You’re going to have a hard time taming it, but aspen is really good. You’re the first person on mum’s side of the family to get an aspen in a hundred years,” he rattled off excitedly. 

“Imagine all the powerful spells you can cast once you’re in seventh year,”

Sirius turned it over a few times and it felt good in his hand, if not a little big at the moment. And although he hoped so much for a phoenix feather core he couldn’t deny that this felt much better than the other two he tried. 

“You think dad would notice if I take his copy of _Simple Charms and their Complicated Uses_?” Sirius whispered softly his mother wouldn’t hear their plotting. Regulus though seemed to go quiet at the idea of stealing a book from their father’s study. Already they weren’t allowed inside, but if they were caught taking a book? He shuttered to think of the consequences. 

“I wouldn’t,” he shook his head, “if mum or dad caught you stealing they’d pull your fingers off and pickle them.”

Sirius sniggered at the wild punishment his brother made up, but he wouldn’t put it past his parents to at least jinx him for a week. 

“What are you two whispering about?” Walburga came up behind them after paying for the wand. She had a sour look on her pinched face and they quieted at once. 

“Nothing mum,” Sirius said. 

“Come, we still need to get your books.” She walked past them then swept out of the wand shop with her chin high and nose curled into a vague sneer. Aspen clearly was not what she had in mind for Sirius. It’s sleek ivory white contrasted too much with his dark clothes, and, in her opinion, didn’t look right in the hands of a Black. Her own was redwood, and Orion had blackthorn, red oak was another common wand in the family. Which was what he had been first presented with. As much as he liked that his was different from the rest of them, Sirius couldn’t help that perhaps being so different was doing more harm than good. 

“Put that away, you’ll put your eye out with it like that.” She swatted at his hand. He was pointing the tip of it at himself to see the way it was skinner at the point than it was at the handle. 

He put it in the cauldron with his other things and followed her to Flourish and Blotts. From the outside he could see how busy it was, people of all shapes and color moved around, there were students and parents and Sirius got a bit excited when he saw his cousin Andromeda pass the window. It was much busier than Olivander’s shop, and he immediately took a step away from Walburga at the sight of so many people. 

She swore under her breath at the sight of so many students with their mixed parents and at the muggle borns who opened _Screaming Laughs: The Hoaxer’s Guide to Goulish Gags_ and the book would screech out an ear piercing laugh at them. This happened at least once every ten minutes. 

Walburga gave each of the boys a short list of books to collect and sent them off with a warning not to talk to anyone. Sirius, of course, ignored the warning and spoke to a group of fifth year boys the first chance he got. 

Both he and Regulus had three books each to find and Walburga only two. Sirius read off _The Standard Book of Spells Grade One_ , _The Beginners Guide to Transfiguration_ , and _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection_. 

Going up and down the aisles he squeezed past adults and bumped into third year students. It was a bit awkward lugging his cauldron around with everything in it. He counted himself lucky it wasn’t made of iron like it was in the old days, his arms would have fallen off by the time they made it to Olivander’s from the weight of it all. 

Picking up the first two on his list was easy enough. With a small arm he was able to reach between two adults for the first. But when a group of fourth years were in his way for the Beginners Guide to Transfiguration, and after he asked them to step aside so he could get it, he pushed his way through, snapped it up, and threw a dirty look their way. 

The nasty side comments about ‘brat’ and ‘he could’ve said excuse me’ went ignored. He didn’t need to excuse himself when they were the ones blocking the shelf. Sirius sort of wished he had the mantel imps to slip into their pockets. 

Searching the shelves for his last one he bumped into Regulus. 

“I found these, but I don’t know where mum went,” he said, holding up two books of his own. 

“That’s fine, drop them here and go find her and the other one.” Sirius held out the cauldron and it got even heavier with the two new additions. His arms were definitely going to fall off by the end of this. 

Going up and down the aisles once more Sirius began to look for the last the three he was responsible for finding. On the farthest shelf from the door he found himself and only three others scanning titles related to the dark arts. There was a pretty lady with light brown hair, a handsome man with a birthmark on the outside corner of one of his eyes, and a young boy who looked a proper mix of them both. 

“Why on earth is this even a subject for first years? Isn’t it dangerous? What if he gets hurt?” Sirius looked over at the woman who held a copy of _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection_. 

He dropped his eyes to a boy who had a rather painful looking scar across the bridge of his nose and two that went vertical to his lips on either side of his mouth. His dusty blonde hair curled a little and he looked over when he noticed he was being stared at. Sirius couldn’t think of why she’d be worried about him getting hurt if he already looked like that. 

“It’s one of the most important classes Hope, he can’t graduate without it,” said the man with the birthmark. 

“It’s not so dangerous, my cousin said almost all of it was book work. And even if it was dangerous there’s a school nurse.” Sirius went up to them and took a copy. 

“Are you starting your first year?” The woman, Hope, grabbed his shoulder to stop him. He had a nice face with a pointy chin, and her darker strawberry blonde hair was long past her shoulders with a white plastic headband. 

“Yeah. Yes ma’am,” he corrected himself. She looked kind of muggle, he thought to show her more respect than Walburga for that at least. 

“Aren’t you afraid of all the monsters out there?” She asked. 

“Hope,” the man chided. 

“I’m only asking because there’s so many. there’s a forest near that school filled with all sorts of bad things. It could give him nightmares.” She argued and took her hand back. 

Sirius looked at the boy who was now holding onto his father's shirt tail looking rather shy. 

“Not really. Monsters aren’t nearly as scary as my mum or dad when they’re angry,” he said. 

“But what about-“

“Hope, that’s enough. He still needs his other books, excuse us,” the man interrupted. 

“Oh! What are you doing? Get back,” Walburga’s shrill voice raised the hair on the back of Sirius’ neck. 

The man seemed to startle at the sight of her and at once Sirius knew he was the magical half of the pair. Only muggles wouldn’t know to be afraid of a Black, and Hope only looked taken aback by his mother’s wardrobe. 

“That’s quite a lot of black,” she whispered to her husband, “are they coming from a funeral?”

“I can’t believe you, talking to that muggle woman and her little mudblood. I’ve thought you better than that, how dare you embarrass me like this in public. Just wait until your father hears what you’ve done,“ she continued ranting at him as she pulled him away by his ear to the front counter to pay for his books. 

“Honestly of all the talks we’ve had at dinner and discussions about taking your heritage seriously-“ 

Sirius opened his mouth to make a cheap joke but a sharp look stopped him. She was actually angry. And talking very loud. 

“The moment I give you a simple task you go and find the first piece of mudblood filth to associate with, it’s humiliating,” she said. 

Sirius ducked his head low, hiding face burning in embarrassment to be scolded so publicly. Only when he found the courage to peek up did he see the husband looking furious as they snuck out. He kept the woman and their son close to his side and shot a spiteful look their way. Sirius felt his heart sink, it was bad enough all his aunts and uncles looked at him like that but he had hoped at least muggles might like him better. 

He secretly wished the man would say something, but if he stuck up for himself against Walburga the odds of him being taken home as a toad were far too high. Instead he kept the young boy's scarred face hidden from sight and left the bookstore. 

Not long after them Walburga led her children out, her pale cheeks had the slightest hint of pink fury in them and they began to pass the Owl Emporium. He hadn’t had the time to think before he spoke and pointed at the shop door. 

“Mum, can I have an owl? I haven’t gotten my animal yet,” he said. 

“You’ll be getting a cat,” she said tersely. 

“A cat? But cats are nasty little things and they scratch up parchment and knock over inkwells. I want an owl,” 

“Was I not clear in Flourish and Blotts that you’re in trouble? Be quiet and do as you're told, you’ll not be getting an owl!” She seized his arm and yanked him around so he was face to face with her twisted snarl. She looked ugly like this. All wide eyed and curled nose. Her mouth made an ugly shape too, it stretched thin as she bared her teeth like she wanted to take a bite out of him. 

“Stop embarrassing me,” she hissed. 

“You’re the one being embarrassing,” he said it before he had the thought to stop himself. The grip on his arm tightened and he only realized his mistake too late. She was reaching for her wand and he had thought perhaps a public setting might save his skin. Eyes wide he panicked. 

“Mum I- I’m sorry I didn’t-“ 

“Walburga, what a surprise to see ye in the daylight. I wasn’t aware vampires no longer burned,” 

The voice of his Uncle Alphard has never sounded sweeter. 

Walburga looked away from Sirius, who was now quite afraid of being hexed and having his tongue taken away, and sneered at her relation. Sirius leaned to the side just enough to see his uncle was in company with his good friend Ewan, who, on rare occasions, was invited to their family gatherings. Very rare. 

“Alphard not now, I’m not in the right mood to deal with you at the moment,” she spat. 

“What seems to be the issue Burgie?” He kept a deceptively cool disposition that Sirius was envious of. He himself was very close to tears with only how tightly she was holding his arm. Her claw like nails didn’t pierce his jacket but if she grabbed any harder he feared they just might. 

“Don’t call me that,” she snapped. 

“I want an owl for school and she won’t let me,” he blurted, still having not learned when to keep his mouth shut. 

“Sirius Orion,” she hissed his middle name and he thought for sure she was going to take his tongue. He’d be mute until the first day of school.

“Oh really Walburga, let the boy have an owl. Everyone at Hogwarts has one, we did too when we were his age,” Alphard looked very tired of their conversation just then, as if the argument was trivial. He even sounded annoyed with her. 

“He is in trouble for talking to mudbloods in the book store, he will not be rewarded for such blatant disregard of our family’s-“

“Oh come off it,” Alphard interrupted, “you go home, we’ll take it from here.” He held out his hand in offering for Sirius to take. And he nearly raised his own to take it but Walburga seized his wrist as if she had read his mind. 

“I don’t think so.” She tugged Sirius closer to herself and he wasn’t given the chance. 

“Then we’ll come with ye. Ewan and I were just on our way to pick out a friend for Argus as it were. Call it luck we crossed paths,” he said. Argus being their current owl. 

“Misfortune is more like it,” Evan muttered under his breath, but a pinch on his arm had him clearing his throat. 

Walburga looked as if she were about to protest but Alphard gave her no choice when began leading them to Eeylop’s Owl Emporium. 

In the store, owls hooted and shrilled at the number of customers that browsed them. There were so many of every size and shape Sirius could hardly contain himself. Whipping between the barn owls and great snowy owls, and the smaller long legged desert burrowing owls. Alphard had offered to hold his cauldron so he might explore freely, Sirius saw his uncle and Ewan holding hands then took Regulus’ hand to run around with him. 

They both stopped to ogle at a great snowy owl in all its fluffy grey glory, wide amber eyes gazed back at them and when they turned to Walburga she glared and they knew the magnificent bird wouldn’t ever belong to them. As they went a few were still very pretty and good for long distance messaging, there was one labeled as the fastest in the shop and they both stopped to ask for that one.

“Our letters would only take hours to reach each other Mum, it has to be this one!” They pleaded, but she shook her head. 

It wasn’t until they came across the ugliest looking owl did Walburga finally give her approval. It’s head was too big for its body and its eyes bulged out so far he wasn’t sure if it could even see properly. 

“Seriously?” Sirius asked, who was deeply affronted by the sight of the disproportionate bird. 

“It’s that owl, or a cat,” she said. 

“But it’s so ugly?” Regulus made a face and the owl looked at them with a dopey hoot. It’s small chest removed rapidly and it’s horribly aligned gaze seemed to go even more wall eyed the more it tried to focus. 

“Merlin what is that?” Ewan asked, and he took Alphard by the wrist when they stopped to see the owl Sirius was being cornered into getting. 

“That. Is an abomination of nature dear,” Alphard gave a look of disgust and when Sirius saw the owl they had picked out he was jealous, once again, of his uncle. In a fine gold wire cage sat perched a beautiful barn owl with a perfect snowy white face and golden brown accents. Later he would come to think it looked like a toasted marshmallow. 

“No, you’re not serious,” Ewan said. 

“It’s that bird, or a cat. Any cat at all. Siamese, Persian, Russian blue, tabby, calico, main coon, meu, british shorthair-“ the more she listed the more maniacal her grin became, “American short hair, rag doll, Serbian, Hymalayin, munchkin, black.” She continued. 

“I’ll take ugly. I don’t want a cat,” Sirius said. 

“Done,” Walburga said. 

“Hold on a minute. This wasn’t what I had in mind when-“

“He’s made his choice. Have a good afternoon Alphard, I hope not to run into you like this again. Ewan,” she addressed his friend with her usual malice and Ewan only glared back. 

Sirius took his cauldron back and grinned faintly up at his uncle. He at least had an owl, and his tongue. For that he was grateful. 

“It’s alright, I’ll write to you the first chance I get,” he said. 

Alphard gave a tight look as though he was apologetic about what Sirius had settled for. It was obvious that the abomination the boy had gotten was not at all what he intended for Sirius to end up with. 

Regulus carried the cage back to Potage’s for him and they used the fireplace there to return home. A throw of floo powder and a very clearly spoken ‘12 grimmauld place’ later Sirius was running straight up to his room. Followed closely by Regulus. He knew he’d get a good second chewing out by his father once Walburga tattled on him, until then the brothers made themselves scarce. 

“He really is very ugly,” Regulus said. He sat on Sirius’ bed looking at the bird with nothing short of disgust as it breathed rapidly and hooted dumbly from its perch. 

“Why’s his head so big? Do you suppose he’d tip over if he leaned too far to one side?”

“Maybe mum cursed him,” Sirius grinned as he lugged his books into his bed and spread them out. 

“Ha! I bet she did. I bet when you get to Hogwarts ugly here will turn right into one of those nasty bald cats,” 

“Ew,” they said at the same time. 

Getting out his wand Sirius waved it at the owl to try to make it less unpleasant to look at but the bird only screeched. When it flapped its wings they were short and stubby like the rest of its body. They looked hardly big enough to carry him, if Sirius were to ever receive a package he can imagine how incredibly difficult it would be for this thing to carry it. He couldn’t help but imagine how difficult it wouldn’t be thought or that rear snowy owl. 

“You should’ve just picked a cat.” Regulus said with a sad tilt of his head. Dropping his cheek into his palm they watched the bird clean himself. It did in fact tip when it’s head went too far to the left or right, and it pulled out feathers by the clump. They made faces at each other. 

“Let him out the window maybe he’ll fly away and mum will get you another,”

Sirius shook his head, if this one got away he’s sure he’ll be forced to get a cat next. 

“No, we should just name him. Mum’ll probably make me get a cat if I lose him,”

They flipped through his school books for a while looking for a name, Easton Headworm, Marvista Clericson, Hargrim Paraveli. 

“What about Hargrim? He’s the greatest ghost hunter ever known.” Regulus pointed to the moving picture of a burly man with a black beard so long it tucked into his belt. He was standing triumphantly with his wand pointed at a ghost. 

It was a good strong name they both agreed, but when they both looked up at the out of balance wall-eyed thing they shook their heads. 

“I’ll just keep calling him Ugly,” Sirius said.

Later, he was in fact punished for embarrassing his mother in Flourish and Blotts, taken into his father’s study and struck with _“diffindo!”_ across his lower back. Then, after being bandaged, was then tasked to helping Kreacher with his chores until it healed on its own. It made for painful and tedious work that occupied his mornings every day for a month. It didn’t help that Regulus followed him around asking if he could play with his new wand or send a letter to Andromeda every ten minutes. 

September first couldn’t come quick enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what do y’all think? tbh i’m in love with Ugly he’s just a runt on wings  
> comments and kudos clear my skin and give me 8 hours of sleep


	3. The Hogwarts Express

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very happy with this chapter! I hope y’all like it too  
> I’m also in love with the brotherly relationship between Sirius and Regulus bc I love Reg tbh  
> Cheers to anyone who has siblings also, older or younger

Packing the night before he was set to leave Sirius could be found bunching his robes and shoving them into his trunk. Regulus was on his bed flipping through his textbook copy of Magical Drafts and Potions, on occasion he would read something out. He listed some of the weirdest and rarest ingredients (bicorn horn, bloody bullfrog eye, bat finger juice), and the effects of dangerous potions (severe loss of appetite, blood freezing in the veins, turning inside out).

It struck Sirius then, in the quiet of his room and the soft ruffling of pages, that he would be leaving Regulus behind. In all his excitement to leave for Hogwarts he had forgotten his brother would be left with only their ill-tempered house elf and the rude portraits for company. And while he doubted Regulus would get into much trouble on his own he wasn’t always able to escape Walburga’s critical eye. 

“Did you know that the shrinking potion will only wear off if you get the reversal potion, which isn’t anywhere in here, or you have to wait twelve hours to grow back to normal,” Regulus said. Sirius packed his trunk with all his other course books then sat on the bed across from him. 

“Well in that case I won’t drink any,” he closed the book. 

“Hey, I was reading that.” Regulus tried to grab it back but Sirius held out of his reach. 

“Listen, I’ll be home for winter holidays, then three whole months for the summer. You’re not going to be alone for very long you know. And year after next you’ll be at Hogwarts with me, so we won’t be apart for long,”

“Does that mean you’ll be home for my birthday this year?” He asked, immediately forgetting the book. 

“Yeah, I have all of summer off. And after a while we can celebrate properly without mum and dad to muck it up when I get older,”

Regulus looked to the side and Sirius turned as well. 

The door to his room creaked open and they both saw their father standing there, surveying them with a somber aura and cold eyes. His drawn face and thick goatee was impossibly dark against his ghostly pale skin. Sirius recalled his father tilting his head back on several occasions and seeing the green veins in his throat. If it weren’t for the blue of his eyes he could pass as a corpse. Even his cheeks and lips lacked color. A result, his Uncle Alphard would say, of Walburga sucking the life out of him. 

“We muck up birthdays?” He asked, his voice just as thin and dry as the rest of him looked. 

“Dad.” Sirius straightened up quickly, his face heated at being caught saying unflattering things. Eyes wide he looked down where he knew his father kept the wand in his boot. The handle of it was sticking out, but he wasn’t reaching for it. Not yet. 

Sirius pressed his palm over the still pink line on his lower back over his shirt. Remembering the sting of taking a shower with the hot water running over the cut. It still pained him sometimes at night when he had nothing else to think about. The little twinges that kept him rolling uncomfortably under the covers. 

“I’ll have a word with your mother and see if we can’t remedy that,” Orion said. 

“Does that mean we can have friends over this year?” Regulus asked. 

“You might say that.” He replied cryptically then strode off, leaving the doorway empty when he left. 

“Dad is so weird,” Regulus mumbled. 

“What friends do you want to invite? You don’t know anyone besides our cousins,” Sirius said. 

Regulus opened his mouth as if to argue before a look of realization crossed his face and he became grouchy. 

***

Arriving at King’s Cross Station that next morning, Sirius, once again, stood in uncomfortable clothes. His collar was synched up so snug around his neck he could feel his pulse throbbing against it and his cuffs were just as tight. He complained the entire way there about how his hands were going to fall off before he even got a chance to use his wand properly. 

Despite his circulation issues, it was just himself, his brother, and Walburga. His father had important business to attend to. Far more important than seeing Sirius, his first-born son, off to wizard school for a whole year. It was probably something to do with writing letters to the grand relatives in apology for Sirius’ behavior at dinner that night. 

At the station, the family of three attracted so much attention he could see when people’s heads turned to look at him, then his mother, then Ugly, the horrific looking owl, and finally his brother. Each of them were taboo in their own way also Sirius suspected because he was the one with the gross bird he warranted the most attention. 

Regulus, who was two years younger, stuck close to his side while they walked and begged to come with him. He claimed there was enough room left in the trunk he could stuff himself inside. It seemed to have finally occurred to him that Sirius wouldn’t be back for three and a half months before winter break. 

Three and a half months with Kreacher and the portraits. 

Crossing the busy platforms, Sirius was beginning to grow annoyed with the nagging. And he certainly wasn’t a fan of the extra attention Regulus was drawing their way. If he was going to make it to Platform 9¾ he needed to blend in. Quietly he told Regulus off a few times, saying they’d get in trouble with Walburga if he didn’t hush up. 

He continued anyway. 

“But why can’t I come with you? I’m nine and a quarter already, I’m practically eleven. why don’t you just sneak me in?” He pulled on Sirius’ dark sleeve and the older jerked his arm away, fed up. 

“Quit it!” He snipped. 

“Just take me with you, I’ll sit in the very back of the class, you won’t even know I’m there,” 

“Regulus cut it out you’re going to make us late, people are looking, stop grabbing me,”

“But Siriuuusss,” 

“Boys!” Walburga snapped around at them with wide eyes. They went silent and followed her soundlessly the rest of the way. Although Sirius had to keep elbowing Regulus when he wouldn’t stop grabbing his arm. 

People around them bustled hither and thither as they had their very busy lives to tend to. The three stopped between platforms nine and ten and people went around them. It was hardly decent cover though. Walburga’s cool eyes caught a few men, each one shivered and quickened their pace away from her. Sirius knew too well the look she was giving them. It gave him goosebumps too. 

“Here we are,” she said, ”come here Regulus and give us a moment.” She stepped up to her eldest with her usual displeasure. Her sharp features were striking, and she did sort of look like a vampire.

“You know what is expected of you. Top marks in your classes. Keep away from the mudbloods and halflings. Behave yourself and the like,” she said.

“Those are high expectations,” he muttered to himself. She took him by the edges of his collar with her long dainty fingers and suddenly tugged him forward a few steps. His eyes widened when he stumbled closer. 

“And you will be sure not drag the family name through the dirt. You will behave yourself,” she said. 

A dead anger shot through him and he grit his teeth. The urge to push away her hand rose up in him, and he clenched his teeth so hard he hoped they’d crack. One more mention of the ‘family name’, one more speech about pride in heritage, and he might just run naked and screaming through the streets of London. 

“Am I clear?” Walburga asked, her lips tight with sternness.

“Yes mum,” he said. She was clear on her expectations but he was already set in his intentions. 

“Good,” her white fingers unclenched from his shirt collar, “I’ll see you on your winter break, say goodbye to your brother.” 

His eyes went from her to Regulus who stood back a few paces. His rosy cheeks were a bit more colored than usual, his nose too, like he wanted to cry. 

Sirius went up to him, now feeling rather bad for getting so angry with him earlier. 

“You shouldn’t make mum so upset,” Regulus said. 

“It doesn’t take much to upset her,” he replied. 

As temperamental as their house elf was, Kreacher took an inexplicable shine to Regulus. And while the elf is occupied with chores more often than not, Sirius didn’t doubt that his little brother would somehow get him to take the blame for any mischief he gets up to. 

He gave him a farewell hug before Walburga announced he would be late for boarding if he lingered any longer. 

With a stiff wave, and an expectant look from his mother, Sirius headed straight for the wall. And in the blink of an eye, he was gone. 

Appearing on the other side, Platform 9¾ bustled loudly with parents bidding children farewell, the screeches of owls, and yowling of very upset cats. There were folks dressed half muggle half wizard, some were entirely wizard and very proud. One lady had a pointed hat so tall a stiff breeze would either knock it over or blow her away. 

“It’s okay Milly, it’s only the express, you’ve been on loads of times before.” He passed a girl who was attempting to soothe her cat through a wicker pet carrier. 

“Alice, how many times have I told you to put him under a sleeping spell before we get here,” a boy her age said. 

He walked along the length of the huge scarlet train. Steam billowed up from the smokestack at the front, and on occasion a loud psssssht of compressed air from the engine hissed. 

As he admired the feat of engineering he noticed how he was still turning heads. Someone had even stopped their conversation mid-sentence to do a double take at him. 

He wasn’t with his very recognizable mother anymore, and he didn’t have the tag along brother with his silly hair slicked into place like some kind of helmet. But he was still dressed ridiculous. Touching the cravat he groaned then quickly pulled it off. He also undid the top two buttons of his shirt, untucked it, shoved the sleeves up his arms, and ruffled his hair. 

Once aboard a car of his choice he found a spot to store his trunk then seated himself in an empty compartment. It was suitable for at least four people, but he expected to sit by himself for the journey to the old castle. If some odd kid tried to sit with him he’d move probably. Unless they were muggle born or a half blood, then he’d be very inclined to have a conversation. Not unlike that scarred boy at Flourish and Blotts. 

He was that much more thankful Hogwarts was a boarding school where he could run around with whoever he liked, or with no one at all, and Walburga would be none the wiser. It wasn’t like his teachers would tattle and send home a letter: 

_Dear Mrs. Black,_

_Your son is making friends with half bloods. Come fetch him at once before he taints himself._

_Sincerely,  
_ _Professor Twat_

As if. 

The compartment door slid open and a boy his age with round glasses and wild hair shuffled in. He sat across from Sirius with a great armful of individually wrapped cakes, then flashed a nice smile that showed off a missing front tooth. 

“Hullo,” the boy said. 

Sirius looked at him from head to toe to decide if he was going to leave or not. His messy hair stuck up in big looping curls, a mess Walburga would’ve demanded be tamed, and rich clothes were a match for the ones Sirius wore. He was no poor half blood, that was certain. 

“M’name’s James Potter. Do you want a Cauldron cake? I think I’ve gotten too many to eat on my own.” James held one out and Sirius took it. He knew that last name. Potter. This is the ‘little monster’ his aunts and uncles had been talking about at dinner. 

“What’a ‘bout you?” 

“Me?” 

“Your name,” James said. 

“I’m Sirius Black,”

“Oh, you’re one of the Blacks?” He raised his eyebrows and leaned back. 

“You have a problem with that?” 

“No. There’s three of you this year isn’t there? You and those two girls? They’re a bit scary looking, passed ‘em on my way here.” James opened a caldron cake for himself. 

“We’re cousins,” Sirius said. 

“At least I can look at you without feeling my skin crawl. Those two birds were creepy, s’pecially the curly headed one,”

“Thanks,” Sirius waffled and noticed his smile again. 

“Anyway, you a first year?” James asked. 

“Yeah. You?” Sirius opened his cake as well and took a bite. 

“Yeah, what House do you think you’ll be in?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t been sorted yet. Gryffindor maybe?”

“Well no one knows until the sorting. Why Gryffindor though? I would’ve guess you’re more of a. . .” 

“A what?” Sirius frowned. 

“Hufflepuff. You're definitely strike me as the sweet and humble type,”

Sirius was stunned briefly at the personality of this kid. His parents would be furious if he was anything but Slytherin. Going off and staining the family name. He smiled at the tease. Pleased to have met someone who was a good match for his sense of humor. 

“If you ask me Gryffindor has the best Quidditch team. So if you’re into that I’d say you’ve made a good choice. Well, maybe. Lately, they’ve been getting spanked by Slytherin these last two years. Do you like Quidditch?” 

“My family isn’t very sporty.” He took another bite of the cake. 

“But I asked if you liked it,” 

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen a match or played before. There’s baskets right?”

“Mate, there haven’t been baskets since the 1880s,”

The door to their compartment opened and a girl with hair like silk fire poked her head in. It fell over her shoulders in two twin braids with green hair ties on each to match her sparkling eyes. Sirius thought he’d never seen a more Scottish girl in his life. What’s more she was in muggle clothes and he perked at the chance to talk to her. 

“Sorry. Mind if I join? All the other compartments are nearly full,” She looked between them and James made room at once. After he closed his mouth from when it fell open. She even sounded like she was from further north. Much closer to the border of Scotland than Sirius was accustomed to hearing. 

“We’ve got plenty of room. I’m James Potter, do you like cauldron cakes? I bought too many,” James offered. 

“I’m Lily. Lily Evans. And did you just say _cauldron cake_?” She asked. 

The boys exchanged looks before Sirius felt himself smile. 

“Are you a muggle born?” He asked suddenly. Lily turned to him with a bit of a worried look. 

“So what if I was?” 

“I’m Sirius, it’s a pleasure.” He stuck out his hand and she took it. 

“Serious?” She asked, and he nodded, not catching her misunderstanding. 

“You grew up in the muggle world right? What’s that like? ” James beat him to his own game and Lily turned from one to the other, her cheeks going pink. 

“It’s boring compared to all this magic stuff you have all the time. We don’t have anything like owl post or cauldron cakes or pointed hats. It’s all very dull,” 

“You don’t have owl post? Who delivers the letters and packages then?” Sirius asked. 

“People do, haven’t you heard of a mailman?”

The boys both shook their heads and looked at her with their full attention as she explained a mailman’s job. They were tickled pink by the idea of some random person who wore shorts and carried around a bag full of everyone’s letters. James laughed when she said sometimes mail gets mixed up and someone gets another person's letters, which never happens with owls. 

The door opened one last time with a bang and a boy, who was also their age, shuffled in looking very untidy. His hair shined with grease, and he had a smell that made the three grimace to themselves. Already in his school robes there was a lump in his front that shifted around. 

He sat down beside Sirius, closer to the window that overlooked the thinning crowd of Platform 9¾. And James, although he looked rather irked by the newcomer, still introduced himself. 

“Hullo, I’m James Potter, d’you want-?“

“No.” The boy curled in around the shifting lump hidden beneath the folds of fabric.

“Alright then.” James gave Sirius a look and he only shrugged back. 

The lump in his robes meowed and at once Sirius knew then what the smell was coming from. Ripe cat urine filled the compartment and Sirius shuffled to the far end of the seat. Even when he got as close to the door as he could manage it didn’t help any. 

James’ cheerful disposition hardly diminished at the rude shrug-off of his greeting. But the greasy kid was not offered a cake again. 

Not long after they had all settled and Sirius was sure their newest addition was not going to make friendly conversation, the train let out a few mechanical groans. The chatter on the platform grew louder as parents called goodbye and Sirius checked out the window. Very pleased to not see his mother standing on the platform as he departed. 

The whistle blew and the car shuttered with a lurch. They swayed in their seats as they began to roll forward and James gave them a wide grin that showed his missing tooth. 

“We’re off,” he said. 

Sirius grinned as well and held onto his seat as the train gathered speed and pulled out of the station onto open track. He leaned forward to look out the window, careful not to get too close to the other boy, and watched the city whizz by. He tried at first to see if he could spot 12 Grimmauld Place. He wondered if Regulus was in his room reading or already bothering Kreacher for company. 

“-called sleekeazy?” Lily said. 

“Oh, I’ve tried it but it just makes my hair feel slimy and it takes ages to wash out. Besides I’m already handsome with messy hair,” James said. 

And that’s why the name Potter was so familiar, his dad had been the one to come up with that wonder product. They had to have made millions off of that invention. Sirius’ mind caught up to their conversation. 

“That’s right, your dad made up that hair product. Aren’t you like, super rich?” Sirius jumped in. 

James’ chest puffed up and he flashed another big smile. 

“Yes I am. But you’re a Black, aren’t you really wealthy too? Even more than me and the Malfoys put together?” 

“Maybe. But it’s not like I asked to be born a Black you know,” Sirius said. 

“Well no one asks to be born as anything,” Lily said. 

Sirius looked at her and considered her muggle born heritage. He could imagine how nice it must be that her parents can’t use magic to punish her. It was then he remembered his questions about the muggle world. 

“Is it true muggle-borns are poor? My mum said you use paper notes instead of real coins,” Sirius asked. 

“I’m not poor,” Lily went pink again, “that’s such a rude question to ask someone. What does it matter if someone’s got a lot of money or not?” She crossed her arms and looked at James briefly. 

“Money isn’t important anyway, my mum says it’s what’s on the inside that makes someone rich. There’s a lot of people out there who have loads of the stuff but they’re all rotten on the inside,” she looked at him pointedly. 

“So, you are poor?” Sirius asked. 

She froze and her cheeks puffed as if she were going to snap at him. Even the greasy one in the corner was giving him a sideways look. Sirius expected he was poor too if he couldn’t even afford to take a bath. He was about to make a rather nasty remark when-

“Do you like Quidditch, Lily? I’m excellent at it already. I’ve knocked out my tooth riding a broom. See?” He smiled and showed off the missing front tooth. 

“I’m going to try out for my House team next year,” James said. 

“If you’ve knocked out your tooth flying doesn’t that mean you ran into something?”

“Yeah?” James said. 

“Doesn’t that mean you aren’t very good if you’ve crashed?”

The topic switched, and for awhile they talked about Quidditch but she wasn’t able to follow along very well. Lily only knew about the muggle sport called football that her dad watched sometimes on the tele. When she tried to explain it James waved a hand to stop her and-

“There’s only one ball and they’re all stuck on the ground? That’s so boring,”

Even Sirius got lost as James went on a tirade of the different UK teams and how the Chudley Cannons shouldn’t even bother playing anymore. They haven’t won the cup in so long he said they should be made a junior league team. They’ve even changed their team motto because of how poorly they’ve been playing for the last several decades. 

Lily made a face at being cut off. She seemed annoyed in the way that it’s happened a million times before. She must not get to speak up very much at home maybe. Sirius knew the feeling. More rather he knew what it was like to be told to shut up. 

A few more times Lily went red when he asked about her muggle family. Things about what her house was like, and if her family portraits said rude things (she didn’t have any family portraits), and he had no idea what a tele was. Even still, it turns out her sister was very disturbed by her witchy abilities. 

Her mum and dad weren’t unsupportive though, she said. They just had no idea what to do about how to handle her short of sending her off to Hogwarts. 

“I haven’t got any siblings you know. Mum and dad said they wanted ten kids but now they say I’m more than enough,” James said, looking very proud. 

“My mum said I was a surprise. One time though, Petunia put gum in my hair just because I cleaned up faster. I had used magic to speed things along, and she got so angry she chewed up a half pack and stuck it in my braid,” she said. 

“Did you use a spell to get it out? Or is it still in there?” James asked. He took one of her braids and turned it over to find nothing. 

“No,” she grabbed her braid back, “mum just cut the hair off and I had to go to a salon to get it fixed. It’s still short and springy looking. See?” She twisted the other one around to show them a piece of hair that flipped out half way down the twist. It was obviously shorter than the rest, like it had been cut. 

“She cut it off?” Sirius’ eyes went wide at the idea of chopping away with scissors rather than using magic. 

“Well it’s not like I know any spells,” she said. 

Regulus had done something similar when they were younger. They had both gotten in so much trouble for running loose through the house Kreacher taped their hands together so they couldn’t cause any more havoc. And when Walburga came across them before dinner that evening she left them like that for days after the fact. 

“One time, the house elf left out a laundry basket and my brother and I pushed each other down the stairs,” 

“That sounds like fun,” James perked. 

“He fell out though and hit his face on the floor. He cried so loud the house elf heard and he taped us together,” 

“That sounds like even more fun. How did you get the tape off?” James asked. 

“We didn’t. My uncle had to use a spell to make it disappear when he visited a few days later,”

“A few days later?” James repeated, then howled out a laugh. 

“Have you got any brothers or sisters?” Lily asked the greasy boy. 

To their surprise he answered, “I haven’t.”

“Lucky. Sisters are an absolute nightmare.” She leaned back in her seat. 

The greasy boy watched her carefully from out the corner of his eye as if he were deciding something about her. Sirius could’ve swore he saw him smile just the tiniest bit. It went away quickly though when he realized Sirius was looking at him, and he turned away from them again. Pressing himself against the side wall and staring out the window he avoided eye contact with them after that. 

“My dad said that the potions classroom is in the dungeons, do you think we’ll have enough time to make it to class if we have one class clear on the other side from another?” James asked thoughtfully. 

“Did you just say _dungeons_?” Lily asked. 

The train rattled on into the evening until the sky outside darkened. Though conversation never dwindled between the three. Sometimes it was just James and Sirius talking, but Lily listened intently. Curious about the magic things they were describing she had no idea how to play wizard chess or gobstones. Which Sirius expected of a muggle born. He expected she wouldn‘t know any magical games but James got loud and laughed at her for it. 

While James kicked up a big fuss, Sirius could see the way Lily got pink in the face again and gripped her skirt tight just before she argued back. James was embarrassing her. Sirius even shared a what-the-hell look with the greasy boy. 

And by then he loathed to say he had gotten somewhat used to the stink of the kid next to him. But after a rather heated argument about wizard chess (“That’s exactly like muggle chess!” “No it’s not!”) they began to change into their robes. 

Lily turned around for the boys to change. Sitting cross legged and facing the corner she impatiently played with her braids. 

Sirius shrugged off the ridiculous jacket his mother put him in. Hedropped it onto the seat then changed into his white button down and black slacks. His new shirt was made of poplin cotton which was soft against his skin, it was charmed too, to have a stiff collar that emphasized his long neck. His robes swept gracefully around his shiny dress shoes when he put that on as well. 

James did the same, and Sirius noticed how he also didn’t button the shirt all the way to the top button. They all turned around when Lily had to change, although James caught the greasy boy peeking and delivered to him a swift kick in the shin. 

“Ow! What was that for?” The boy spat. 

“You _know_ what for. Don’t do that,” James said. 

Sirius thought it was common knowledge not to peek at a girl when they’re in any state of undress. He had been curious about girls a few times when he was younger and asked Andromeda a question or two. But he had been grossed out by most of her answers and very quickly stopped asking. 

James and the boy sat on complete opposite sides of the compartment now, shooting dirty looks back and forth. Lily blushed furiously, no doubt eager to get away from all of them. Not that Sirius could blame her, she had been peeked at without her skirt up. She was furious and for some reason was absolutely certain it had been James who peeked at her. 

When the train came to a hissing stop she shot to her feet and was gone in a flash of red hair. 

“D’you think she’ll ever talk to me again?” James asked as they shuffled down the aisle. Other students emptied the compartments around them, jamming up the aisle, making getting off the train a slow process. 

“Probably not, you’ve upset her pretty good. And she’s embarrassed. Better hope you don’t have a grade relying on her anytime soon,” Sirius said. 

“Yeah. Maybe I can talk to her later and get it sorted,” James agreed. 

They were deposited from the train onto a dark platform that was scarcely big enough to fit everyone. Shoulder to shoulder the low rumble of student voices was overrun though by a man’s with a thick accent. 

“Firs’ years! If yer a firs’ year come this way! Firs’ years! This way if yer a firs’ year!” A lamp bobbed over head and a large man came lumbering across the dark platform, lighting up faces and hats as he passed. 

“Right we are then, this all the firs’ years? C’mon, follow me,” he said. 

Sirius and James stuck side by side, there was really nowhere else to go. Slipping and stumbling they made their way down a dark narrow path. To their left and right it was pitch black and Sirius imagined tall dark trees were swallowing up all the moonlight. 

Everyone was squeezed down into a long line of two by two. Together Sirius and James migrated in an odd fashion towards some unknown destination. Everyone was quiet given it took so much concentration to not stumble in the dark on others feet or uneven ground. 

“Jus’ round the corner an’ you’ll see it,” the burly man said. 

“See what?” James asked. 

Making one last turn, head of them was a sparkling black lake that reflected the nearly full moon and- 

The castle. 

“Oooooh,” several students, including Sirius, let out their loud first impression of the school. 

Rising up out of a cliff stood a massive ancient building of stone. Hundreds of little windows glimmered in the evening all over. It’s spires reached so high he had to tilt his head back to see the tops of some of them. He would later find out that there was also a massive Quidditch pitch just on the other side as well as extended grounds to wander during weekends and off periods. 

Waving for them to join him by the lake's edge, the big man lumbered up to the store where there were several boats waiting for them. 

James made a comment about the fellow’s size now that they could see him properly. He said something about the capacity of his underpants and Sirius quietly snickered.

Of the students who came along they were some three dozen strong and all patiently awaiting instruction. 

“Righ’, s’that everyone? C’mon then. In yer go, no more than four ter a boat,” the big man said. 

James got into the nearest one first and Sirius wasn’t far behind, taking the spot to his right. Which left them open to share with two girls who looked rather excited by the idea of traveling by boat. Sirius was rather excited as well. The lake was a gorgeous mirror of the school and sky, and he couldn’t wait to get across it. 

“Everyone in? Good. Forward!” 

Sirius yelped when the boat lurched then let out a laugh when James grabbed him by the sleeve. They snickered together as he found his balance again and held onto the edge. Dozens of boats like theirs sped across the water’s glass surface. The castle high above glittered in the most amazing display Sirius has ever seen, and it towered over them the nearer they got. 

“I can’t believe how big it is. How are we supposed to find our way around that place?” Sirius asked. 

“Not a bloody clue,” James shook his head.

“Mind yer heads!” The burly man called out as the first boats reached the cliff that the school sat atop of. 

Sirius ducked down with James and the two girls as they passed through a curtain of ivy that hid a large opening in the side of the cliff. It brushed over his hair and shoulders in a creepy sort of way, and he sat back up to see they had entered a dark tunnel. The only light being the man’s lamp again. 

They followed the tunnel until the end where there was a sort of pebbly beach. Off loading on there, some of the students got their shoes wet if they jumped out too early. 

Sirius climbed out first, and one of the girls sprang out into the shallow water splashing herself with a big smile before she took off to be the first to follow the big man where he may lead next. After James got out he walked with him up a passageway after the man and his lamp. Before long they all emerged onto a spread of dark grass in the shadow of the castle.

Sirius tilted his head all the way up to see and even then the very points of its turrets were lost in its height. He looked back down again when his toe hit stone steps that lead right up to a great oak door. This was it, he’s made it. 

James was frantically tapping his arm in excitement and they shared a smile. 

“Alrigh’ little witches an’ wizards, welcome ter Hogwarts.” The man raised a fist and struck the door three times. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? 
> 
> It’s all welcome in the section below
> 
> Comments and kudos prevent my bank account from becoming Mars Chocolate company’s sole source of profit 
> 
> Remus has only enabled and worsened my need for sugar intake


	4. The House of Gryffindor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lovely little short chapter, 3.5k  
> heavy inspiration was drawn from TT Bret, and their online gif series, i would like to credit them very much for providing the bones of this sorting scene. if you don’t know who i’m talking about, what are you doing? google them. you won’t regret it.

Pouring into a massive hall alongside the other first years, at once Sirius first noticed the bewitched ceiling. Pushing his curly bangs out of his eyes he saw a night sky twinkle overhead with drifting clouds and blinking stars. A perfect bite sized replica of the one outside. Below it there were some hundred floating candles casting the hall in warm orangish light. It felt much more inviting than the chilly air of approaching autumn they came from.

Lower than the candles were four transparent figures hanging in the air. Silvery blue and very odd looking. Each of the four hovered over long individual tables where the older students sat. There was a stern looking man with silver stains all over his clothes, a grim Lady in Grey, a pudgy looking friar, and a man in fourteenth century dress. His high ruffled collar went all the way up to his chin as if he dressed for a special occasion. Though it looked quite tight and when he looked around, his entire head wobbled. 

”Ghosts!“ A stocky boy with wispy blonde hair became excited at the sight of them. His name tag read ‘Peter’ and Sirius wondered why anyone would be so thrilled to see ghosts. They were cold and spiteful creatures the lot of them. He had a considerably poor experience with one in the past. One of his deceased relatives visited briefly and was nothing short of a nightmare. 

Below the ghosts, each table ran the length of the Great Hall and each had an assortment of people wearing ties that coordinated in color with those they sat beside. At the far end to his left sat rather dark prickly figures in green that reminded him of his mother. Then directly to his left were the bookish looking type in blue, then it was himself and all the first years in their uncoordinated shuffling down an open middle row. To his immediate right we’re a handsome group of smiling faces in yellow, and beyond them was a mixed bag of people in red. 

It was a shifting sea of black robes as the students chattered amongst themselves. He caught a few sixth years slip coins to one another in bets see which House would get a student sorted into it first. And in the back there were seventh years ignoring everything completely. 

Sirius looked left then right then left again, hoping so much he doesn’t get put in with the nasty looking bunch in green. He knew what they were. The House his entire family has been passed and molded through. Well. . . Not him. No. He won’t let himself turn out like them. 

“My dad said the sorting hat is the greatest judge of character to ever have existed. He says it can see straight into your head and everything, it read your thoughts.” James leaned over and Sirius felt a thumping in his chest like someone was pouring marbles into him. He imagined himself having a very public row with a hat. Shouting at it and demanding to be put anywhere but Slytherin. 

He cast another wary glance to the far left. Everything about him was dark but his skin. He looked like he should belong with them with his cold stare, fair skin, and raven curls. He even had dark eyelashes. His mother said they gave his eyes a good frame to glare through, good for putting people in their place. People like Lily.

“You don’t suppose the old thing takes requests do you?” He asked James. 

“Requests? Yeah right,” 

Sirius was beginning to feel queasy. He didn’t like this at all. He wished his uncle was here to tell him it would be alright, but his uncle had been a Slytherin just like the others. He was, however, of the Blacks, the most tolerable, and the most likely to only tell him Slytherin isn’t as bad as he thinks it is. 

“Alright Sirius?” James asked. 

He hadn’t realized he had been wincing until he felt his jaw unclench.

“A bit nervous,” he admits. 

“A bit? You look like you’re going to pass out. But don’t worry it’ll turn out. You’ll see. I’m nervous too, I think. But also excited,” James said. 

At the head of the Great Hall there was another long table seated with a number of adults that could be easily assumed to be the professors. In the center sat the headmaster, the bearded kook, as his parents called him, and a handful of others. There was a spot though, with a short stool in front of the professors table. And a delightfully pretty woman in emerald robes stepped up to rein in everyone’s attention. Her skin had a smooth dewy quality with a neat brown bun atop her head. She introduced herself as Professor McGonagall and Sirius hoped she was going to be one of his teachers. 

“She’s gorgeous,” two girls behind him whispered at the same time. 

Professor McGonagall held in one hand a scroll of parchment, and in the other a tattered old wizards hat. The old thing looked to only be held together by magic with all its patches and stitches, slumping heavily forward as if it no longer had the will to remain upright. 

The old tattered hat that looked like it had been rummaged out of a bin was set on a short stool on the front stage of the hall. She then unrolled the scroll and read off a brief address. Greeting the first years and welcoming returning students before giving the floor to the hat. 

It shifted on the stool with a life of its own and where the seam met the brim, a mouth opened up, and it began to sing. 

“Welcome first years   
You all look so new.   
I am the Sorting Hat   
My judgment’s tried and true. 

I’ve been here for nearly   
One hundred one hundred years,   
Come up closer have a seat  
And set me over your ears. 

Your thoughts are no secret,   
Certainly not from me,  
I am here to sort you   
By experience, and personality. 

The sight of me, it’s not pretty,   
Don’t judge me by my seams.   
I am quite witty when I know  
So well your individuality. 

So perhaps in brave Gryffindor   
Is where your true place lies,   
Daring, brave, and chivalry are   
What Gryffindors most prize;

Or maybe in clever Ravenclaw,   
For those who test their mind  
And for knowledge are so yearning,  
Will always find their kind;

Still there is sweet Hufflepuff  
Where you may humbly belong,   
They’ll tell you no different than  
Inside, you’ve always been strong;

Or yet in cunning Slytherin,   
Where they do favor ambition,  
It’s the sneaky wily ones   
To whom they grant admission!   
  
It’s in these halls you’ll find your place,   
Hither nor tither don’t be bitter,  
Little witches and wizards I know you better. 

Because one of these four   
Is where you ought to be,  
So come right here have a seat,  
For the Sorting Hat is me!”

The Great Hall burst into merry cheers and applause. Even Sirius clapped with a smile on his face at the rhyming ends of the song. He had to admit it was clever for such an old thing. To his right a few people whistled their approval.

Professor McGonagall looked down at the short scroll to read the first name. The hall went quiet. 

“Aaron, Abel,” she said.

A boy with sun blonde hair went up the steps looking rather frightened. She had picked up the hat for him to sit down, then lowered it onto his head. His cheeks went horribly pink as everyone stared before the hat bellowed out.   
“RAVENCLAW!” 

Those in blue to Sirius’s left erupted into cheers and welcomed him with overly excited handshakes. Coins were passed between students as bets were won and lost. 

“Abbey, Janus,” the woman called. A girl with a nice face and frizzy brown hair went up.   
“HUFFLEPUFF!”

The table to his right burst into cheers and she was welcomed with hugs and someone ran up to give her a canary yellow uniform tie that matched everyone else’s at their table. This happened with each student who turned out Hufflepuff. When he looked around he saw a group had a whole load of ties at the ready for their new House mates. 

Sirius watched as each person who was sorted got a cheer and was openly welcomed to their assigned table, even the handful that were sorted into Slytherin. Those already in green whooped and waved excitedly but the others in red across the hall hissed at the first years. He curled his toes in his shoes. 

“Black, Bellatrix,” 

Sirius groaned internally when his cousin went racing up the steps and nearly knocked over the stool she sat down in it so fast. The hat was lowered and hardly even touched her wild black curls.   
“SLYTHERIN!” The hat screeched and wriggled it’s brim. 

With a big grin she raced off again leaping onto her fellow first years, and throwing her arms around their shoulders in a violent greeting. 

“She’s the scary one I saw earlier right?” James leaned over as he watched her climb across the table to grab a fourth year by the tie then took it from him. The boy's collar and hair got rumpled but he sat frozen, clearly in shock by the blatant theft. She slipped the tie over her head and belted out a laugh at his face. 

“Probably,” Sirius muttered embarrassedly. 

“Black, Narcissa,” 

Up went his cousin Narcissa who was far more collected than Bellatrix, but no less Slytherin. Sirius’s stomach swooped when the hat shouted it out. Another Black to the Slytherin House. 

“Black, Sirius,” 

He gulped past the wet cotton in his throat and approached the stool. Looking up at Professor McGonagall, who was considerably taller than him, he sat down. He watched as it was lowered onto his head and he scrunched his face in another wince as if it would bite him. 

_Hm, another Black. I know just where to put you_ , said a voice in his head. 

_Don’t you dare! Don’t put me in Slytherin you shabby old rag, I’m not like them!_

_Shabby old rag?_

_You heard me._

_How bold. Very well, if not Slytherin then you may do better somewhere else. So perhaps- yes. I know just where you belong_ , the voice said.   
“GRYFFINDOR!” 

The Great Hall was silent. A moment later there was scattered applause from the teachers table, although it sounded confused. A few professors leaned over to each other and questioned one another if a Black had really just been sorted into Gryffindor. He knew he was the first, as far back as anyone could remember, to not be sorted into Slytherin. The two names were synonymous in the minds of others. They belonged together, but he couldn’t have dug his heels in deeper to resist that fate if he tried. 

He sucked in such a deep breath of relief he briefly went light headed. Letting out a big whuff of a sigh his cheeks puffed and he smiled. Taking the hat off he held it out to a bewildered looking professor and got to his feet. 

“Thanks.” He said, then trotted off to the Gryffindor table. Joining those in red he grinned big at them but they didn’t return the sentiment. On their faces he saw what was kin to confusion and discontentment. Swiveling his head around when movement caught his peripheral, James was jumping up and down. Waving at him in excitement, he waved back. At least one person was excited for him and he clung to that. 

Being on the opposite end of the hall from his cousins he couldn’t believe what relief he felt to at last get away from them. It would’ve been worse than dealing with the mantle imps if he ended up in the same House as them. He’d go bald pulling out his hair with stress. 

It went by quicker after that, although Sirius kept mental tabs on those who else was sorted into Gryffindor. Lily was, which he thought was neat, although she made it a point to sit beside some other girls rather than him. Not that he minded, but James gave him a big open mouthed smile when he saw her sit at the table. 

“Lupin, Remus." The boy with scars on his face went up and Sirius immediately recognized him from Flourish and Blotts. He was the one with the muggle mother.   
“GRYFFINDOR!” 

He ran off with the sorting hat still on his head and a few upperclassmen had to wave for him to go back. His face went completely pink. Abashedly returning it to the stool he sat by himself at the end of the table and put his head down. Sirius thought to sit by him but got distracted when a few older years asked if Narcissa and Bellatrix were his sisters. He was pleased to inform them that they were not and took the opportunity to express his contempt for them. 

There were a handful of others who had their names read off and before long it was James’s turn. He’d barely gotten his head tapped before it wiggled its brim to shout,  
“GRYFFINDOR!”

Sirius cheered with everyone and made room for him to sit. 

The sorting moved along even quicker after that. Ravenclaws here, Slytherins there, a Hufflepuff or two in between. Once everyone was given a place, an elderly man none other than Dumbledore, with his long white beard and half moon spectacles set upon his crooked nose, held out his hands. 

“Alright everyone. I’d like to welcome you all to another year at Hogwarts, and as always it is my pleasure to see so many new faces each year. I would like to keep this brief, however, I do have an announcement. There has been a new addition to our school grounds called the Whomping Willow. It is very ill tempered and will not be gentle if you get too close. I would strongly advise everyone, especially Gryffindors, to exercise caution and _restraint_ when passing it. Now without further interruption, I wish you all a happy feast,” 

The Whomping Willow, why on earth would the school plant something that could harm students? 

“Well now I want to go see what’s so dangerous about it,” James said from beside him. 

Sirius looked on as the best food he’s ever seen appears before him. Up and down the table there lay a massive feast of turkey, pot pies, roasted carrots, corn mash, and if he wasn’t mistaken, a fudge brownie platter so long it could reach from the Hufflepuffs table to theirs and still have overhang. 

“We’re in Gryffindor together! How awesome is that?” James cheered as he loaded his plate. 

“I thought for sure you’d be put in Slytherin!” Said someone a few seats down. 

“I know, after those two girls I thought he would too,” another chimed in. 

“Well the hat doesn’t make mistakes, he’s right where he belongs.” James held up his cup of pumpkin juice as if he were making a toast. 

Sirius thought it best to keep it to himself that he outright told the hat not to put him in Slytherin. He raised his cup with a grin to not appear guilty. This is where he wanted to be, and oh how he wished he could be there to see the look on his mother’s face when she finds out what’s happened.

Draining and refilling their goblets and plates they drank and ate until their guts were about to burst. Sirius groaned like the rest of the first years as they were led by their Prefect, Penelope Quincap. A fine looking sixth year with olive skin and shiny black hair that bounced when she walked. When they came upon the moving staircases Penelope skipped a step but watched as two first years didn’t and their foot went straight through the stone. 

“You’ll want to avoid that step in the future. It’ll make you late for class and it’s only a viable excuse for the first month.” She instructed then helped pull them free. Sirius and James gave each other curious side glances. He wondered if James was thinking the same thing as he was. He wondered if James also wanted to step on it just to see what would happen. 

Going over it for now, they were led to a large painting of a fat lady. Penelope stopped to explain how the portrait hole worked, and that the password was Hornsquabble. 

“That’s the one,” the fat lady said. 

Penelope stepped aside to let them through and Sirius was close behind James when they climbed through to find themselves in a cozy room full of squat couches and plush chairs. There were study tables arranged in a random looking pattern, like they get moved according to preference of the occupants. There was a great big fireplace that looked much nicer than the one with snakes and imps back home. He suspected this fireplace would be far less prone to piercing his ears at night as well. 

The boys and girls separated then. He, James, and a handful of others were passed into the care of Seán O’Shea, Penelope’s male counterpart. Seán saw to it they all made it to their proper rooms and the two boys couldn’t believe their luck when they found they would also be sharing a dorm room. 

It was a small space filled with five four poster beds, each with a trunk at the foot. Deep wine red curtains hung from the posts and the bed furthest from the door had its curtains were drawn. 

“Which one is mine?” James rushed off at once and went to the one furthest from the door, Sirius close behind him, and he flug open the curtains. 

“Agh!” The boy with scars yelped at the intrusion and yanked down his shirt. It had been hiked up as he tended to a bandage underneath, and Sirius had just enough time to spot the long white lines across his ribs and stomach before they were covered up again. 

“Oh! Sorry didn’t know there was someone in here. Alright?” James asked, and the scarred boy went pink. 

“You’re in our dorm room too?” Sirius asked. 

“Do you know each other?” James turned to him. 

“Not exactly,” 

“Can you close the curtains please?” The boy asked tightly. 

James raised his eyebrows like he wanted to say something else but nodded then pulled it closed again. 

“Did you see all those scars? How many trees do you suppose _he’s_ flown into?” James asked. 

Sirius thought on the pink line on his lower back from when he embarrassed his mother and didn’t think it was the fault of a tree. 

“Oh there’s mine!” James moved across the room, and Sirius spotted his was next to the odd boy’s and catty corner to James’s. 

He knelt down to open it up and all of his belongings were still there. His books and wand and socks and scales. There was something there though that wasn’t before. An envelope corner stuck out from between his Transfiguration and herbology textbooks. 

Pulling it free he recognized the wax seal as the Black family crest. He frowned at the thought of his father having slipped this into his things, then worried that something else might have been put in or even taken out. But when he turned it over he was relieved to see _‘To Sirius’_ scribbled in his brother’s handwriting. Breaking the seal he opened up the trifold. 

_Sirius,_

_I snuck this in really early this morning while you were still sleeping. I’m excited you’re starting Hogwarts and I’m glad you can be home for my birthday. I’ll work with Uncle Alphard and his friend Ewan when they’re over next to send you a good present for your birthday this November._

_Regulus_

_P.S. send me a poster or something from the Slytherin House to put up in my room._

Below it there was a drawing of a stick figure with messy hair falling off the broom. The event was captioned with an arrow pointing at the stick figure: _‘This is you falling off a broom in flying class’_. 

He scoffed, and folded the letter back up. He had already promised to write a million times, he’s only at school it’s not like he’s at war. Regulus was like a broken record in his demands to exchange letters. 

“What’s that?” Sirius flinched when James appeared over his shoulder looking at the letter. 

“It’s from my little brother. He thinks I’m going to forget to write to him even though I’ve already said I would,” 

“I wish I had a brother,”

Sirius shook his head and dropped the letter back into his trunk before rummaging around for pajamas. 

“You really don’t. They’re annoying,”

“I guess. But, hey.” He waved Sirius to come closer and when he did James pointedly looked at the four poster with the curtains still closed. 

“He sat by himself at the feast. I don’t think he knows anyone. We should make him our friend,”

“Okay? Sounds alright to me. Why are we whispering?” Sirius asked, grinning faintly in his confusion for the secrecy. 

“I don’t know,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> questions, comments, concerns, drop them in the comments below and let me know! 
> 
> if you must know comments and kudos make staying up all night for literally no reason but to torture myself all worth it.  
> -Quillnib


	5. In the Halls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the halls are just as exciting as the classrooms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no idea why this took so long to write but i finally got the free version of grammarly and i've never been so in love with a program in all my life  
> also here's to me taking 3 months to read OotP, cheers

The following morning saw Sirius awake far too early. It was dark behind the closed curtains of his bed, but even when he opened them the single east-facing window let in no light. His mind had little consideration of his sleep schedule considering the rampant thoughts that wouldn’t relent long enough for him to get decent rest. He barely remembered dozing long enough to dream about going to class without his robes on. He’d woken up what felt like minutes later grabbing for his pyjamas in a panic. 

Sirius winced at a dull pinch from his lower back at the sharp movement. Reaching around to touch the scar under his shirt he wasn’t able to soothe the ache, but only assured himself it would go away if he laid still. And then, when he was he wasn’t distracted by his nightmare or the scar he heard a sniffle from the bed beside him. Then another, and another after that, and he was sure Remus was crying. 

There was another, and he thought maybe he should try to comfort him. But what would he say? It’s uncomfortable when people cry and they can’t be consoled. Sirius only knew how to cheer up Regulus, and that involved antagonizing the portraits until Walburga shouted at them to hush. And here there were no portraits worth bullying, what’s more, he didn’t know if Remus would like that. Remus might not be keen on him anyway since the things his mother said to his parents in Flourish and Blotts. Sirius would’ve liked to kick Walburga in the shin for that. He figured he ought to when the opportunity presents itself over the Christmas holiday. His boldness grew in absence of fear and he certainly liked the idea of giving her a piece of his mind. Or foot.  
  
Before long, the other boys began shifting around, waking up and began getting ready. The sound of trunks opening and closing filled the room along with tired grunts of ‘good morning’. 

The sniffling went quiet. 

He felt bad he didn’t do anything and spent the whole time thinking about kicking his mother. It was too late now though. And the odds of Remus growing out of whatever upset him are high. He has three months before the break which was plenty of time to get used to the routine here. 

Getting up, Sirius and the others readied themselves for the day and as they did he attempted to sneak glances of Remus while he changed, but it proved impossible. Remus had only come out from behind his bed curtains to grab clothes before disappearing then emerging again in uniform. Neatly stuffing his half folded pyjamas back into his trunk he was tidier than the others who just threw their clothes on top of their already messy beds. Sirius didn’t find it particularly odd that he hid to change, he supposed he was just shy. 

They all received their House ties later in the common room before breakfast, and Sirius confusedly followed James as he switched between tailing after Remus then Lily then Remus again. 

Gryffindor sixth year Prefect Seán told everyone to wait for the other first years to join them in the common room before leaving so he could lead them down to the Great Hall. There they would receive their first meal of the day and schedules. In the meantime, they were shown how to tie their ties, which Sirius wasn’t paying attention to. 

“D’you suppose we’ll be flying today?” James asked. 

“Yeah, I hope so. I can’t wait to get up in the air. My mum never let me even lay a hand on a broom at home.” Sirius looked up from his fiddling with the tie ends with a smile.

“I’ll show you everything you need to know. And let’s try to get Remus in on it too. I bet he’s never touched a broom either. Look, he already knows how to tie the thing.” James pointed between a couple of girls where Remus was awkwardly helping them get their ties done right. His face looked a bit lacklustre like maybe he was sick, or he hadn’t rested well enough. Dark circles under his eyes emphasized their hazel and he slouched which made him look shorter than he was. 

“He looks a bit off doesn’t he?” Sirius said. 

James missed the question as he strutted up to wedge himself between the girls and make himself seen. 

“Hullo. Can you help me? I can’t get it.” He pointed to his half done jumbled mess around his neck. At the sight of it, Remus gave him a weary look then nodded. With small nimble fingers, he picked apart the knot while avoiding eye contact. 

Sirius came up between the girls next, fitting himself between a threesome of rather plain faced lassies. One of them wore glasses but that was all he took notice of. The three trotted off and Remus gave him a look just as tired as he had given James. Sirius eyed him but he wasn’t thinking much about where he was looking, he was actually thinking about the classes he was going to have. 

“Alright mate?” Sirius asked. Remus shifted on his feet but kept his focus on the task at hand. Flipping the tie around he accidentally hit James in the face then looked up immediately with wide eyes. 

“Sorry! Sorry. That was an accident. I didn’t mean to,” 

James laughed, which led to a moment of tense staring on Remus’s part like he wasn’t sure what was happening. Sirius choked on a snort before it came back up as a laugh as well. It was hard to resist the contagious giggles that came from James. His laugh was sharp and throaty in a way that made him sound absolutely tickled that he had been slapped in the face with the tie. 

Sirius was still chuckling even when it was his turn to have his tie done. Smiling and looking at the way Remus blushed in embarrassment he assured the boy several times, as did James that it was okay. He also got a better look at the white lines across his nose and brow that didn’t colour when he pinked. And by the way he had his fringe situated, strands of hair hid more across his forehead. He could see one curled from below the sweeping fringe around to the underside of his eye in a crescent shape. 

He felt bad when he thought about the tender pink line on his own lower back, and what it might be like to have those on his face. Sirius’s smile and giggles faded into something soberer as he looked at him. No wonder he cried this morning. 

***

Seated at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall with a host of other first years their House Headboy and Headgirl handed out rolled parchment to each student. Walking on either side of the table and working their way up as sixth year prefects answered questions. Both James and Sirius eagerly awaited their schedules as Headgirl approached them. Her long shimmering russet hair caught the light in a pretty sort of way each time she reached into a beige bag that slung over her shoulder and handed out a schedule. She looked a bit older, a bit more mature. She had to be in her seventh year. By the way she held herself Sirius might even go so far as to call her a woman. 

Upon reaching the pair she smiled pleasantly in a disarming sort of way that made him trust her immediately. It was odd, to say the least, how someone can give off such a calming aura. 

“Hullo, I’m Shanna. I hope you lads are getting on well so far. If you need any help finding classes Roland and I will be walking the halls with the other head students to point you in the right direction.” She set two rolls of parchment between them so they would each have a copy.

“Cheers miss,” James said with a smile. His front missing tooth earned him one in return. 

She glanced at Sirius with pretty brown eyes before moving on to the other first years beyond him and giving the same little introduction. 

“Right. First order of business,” James said. 

“When are flying lessons?” Sirius’s attention narrowed suddenly. Grabbing up their schedules at the same time they both rapidly glanced over classes and the days they fall on. Sirius was hyper-focused on finding the block labelled ‘flying’ when James perked with a cheerful, “Ah-ha!”

James leaned in too close and pushed his own parchment roll into Sirius’s face with his finger over a label. He didn’t mind so much though when his eyes focused to read: 

**Thursday, 11:45 Flying, Professor McCormack**

“Today is Thursday,” Sirius’s eyes widened and he smiled. 

“How lucky is that? We’ll be in the air before lunch!” James, with a big grin, held out his schedule to look at it as though he’d accomplished something great. His glasses slipped a bit down his nose as he read, but he seemed not to mind.  
  
“Also the name McCormack sounds familiar. But they’re not the same professor as when my dad went here. Why does that name look so familiar? McCormack? McCormack. . . It’s going to drive me mad,” James said. 

Sirius shrugged then looked down at his own scroll with a gleam in his eye. It looked like they had potions and defence against the dark arts before then. Sirius was buzzing with the anticipation of all of it. He was going to learn how to brew potions with animal guts and insect bits, and he was going to learn how to fight off werewolves, dugbogs, and hopefully imps if he were so lucky. He could go back home and have some practical application. 

He and James both jumped in their seats when a fifth year girl screamed, “give it back!” from some ways down the table. Her outburst turned heads from all over and a peel of hysterical laughter sent chills prickling down his spine. It was a creepy high pitched nasally laugh that didn’t sound like it could come from any student. 

“Larras Lee, Larras Lee, no one likes you, least of all me!” A gaudy voice chimed. 

Sirius leaned forward to look and saw a man dressed in outrageous clothing floating above the table just beyond reach with a schedule in hand. He muttered something inappropriate in his confusion at the scene. Not at all sure if what he was seeing, was a ghost or some spell. 

“What is _that_?” Lily shrieked from their end of the table gaining the apparition’s attention so it swung its head around to look at them. Its eyes took in all the new faces, and Sirius got that same creepy feeling he gets when he tries to sneak past the portraits at night. The one where he can tell they’re watching him instead of sleeping; just letting him sneak around so they can expose his bad behaviour the next morning. Watching. Judging. 

“Is that a Black at the Gryffindor table?” 

“Peeves! Give me back my schedule!” The girl, Larras Lee, jumped up and pointed her wand at the thing. 

Sirius leaned back when Peeves came racing towards him, and he crashed into James in his panic. The pair of them shouted as they tumbled off the bench, and the hysterical laughter was closer, still with Larras calling after him. So much happened at once from the Gryffindor table the other Houses quieted to see what the commotion was. 

From the floor, Sirius looked up and Peeves was peeking his head over the edge of the tale to spy on him. 

“Black, Black. Sirius Black. Always deserves a right good smack. You’re not where you belong are you? What are you doin’ over ‘ere?” A long grin stretched his grey face. It gave Sirius the complete opposite effect that Shanna’s smile gave him. 

Feet scampered up close to his face and he turned away, afraid to be stepped on. Arms wrapped around his shoulders and Sirius felt himself be pulled away to safety. 

“ _Relashio!_ ” Larras said from over them, and Peeves dropped the schedule.

“ _Everte statum!_ ” Peeves was blasted up into the air far away from the table with a shrill cry that had the Slytherins in stitches. The entire hall filled with their hissing laughter. 

When Sirius uncovered his face he realized it had been James who saved him from being stepped on. With a quick thanks, he got up to peek over the edge of the table. Scouting for any signs of Peeves who may come back to taunt him some more. James waited for an all clear before rejoining him on the bench. 

“What was that?” Lily came up to them to ask again, but this time she directed her attention to the fifth year who successfully fended Peeves off. 

“That was the school poltergeist, Peeves. Do yourself a favour, keep as far away from him as you can. He’s nothing but trouble.” Larras tucked her schedule into the inside pocket of her robe before rejoining her group of friends. A small cluster of upperclassmen all muttering angrily with pointed glares at the Slytherin table. Sirius glanced that way as well. He wouldn’t have to have his arm twisted to be convinced the gits had something to do with what just happened. 

He made a face when Bellatrix caught his eye then smiled and twirled her hair around her finger. 

“So that’s what dad meant when he said Peeves looked like a tired old balloon,” James said. He made a pulled face then visibly shuttered. The sight of something so unnerving flying straight for his face was not something either of them would soon forget. 

“A tired old balloon?” Sirius repeated with a laugh. Distracted from his freaky cousin his head swivelled around to James. 

“Dad also said he looked stretched out and old like pulled taffy,” he said. 

“We should chase him when we learn to fly properly,” Sirius said. The thought of racing through the castle after the menace seemed like a good bit of fun, especially when they learn enough spells to antagonize him while in pursuit. 

James faced him with a dropped jaw and wide eyes. Sirius was then seized by his shoulders and shaken. 

“Yes! We have to do that! No take backs!”  
  
“Okay okay, we’ll do it! You’re rattling my brain, James.” Sirius laughed and held on as he was jostled. 

After that, breakfast was uneventful. They collected their schedules with giddy smiles then headed off with the other first years to charms class alongside the Hufflepuffs. Moving in a herd of red and yellow through the halls the Hufflepuffs all stuck close together in clusters while the Gryffindors meandered either in small groups or on their own. Sirius and James stuck together in a pair and kept an eye on Lily who walked with another girl neither of them recognized. When she caught them following her she sped up and disappeared between two clusters of Hufflepuffs.  
  
“Sneaky that one,” James said.

In charms, the classroom was spacious with a big window on the back wall, and in front of the window was a large stack of thick books. Along the sides of the room, long continuous wooden desks faced each other with a middle aisle for the professor to pace while instructing. A feature Sirius found odd as he always imagined classrooms to have individual desks. 

On one side the Hufflepuffs took their seats and on the other, James and Sirius with the Gryffindors, and it was there at the head of the classroom where Professor Flitwick stood on the small tower of books so everyone could see him. There was a nudge in his side and James pointed down the line towards Remus and Lily who sat together with the third girl who they didn’t know on the opposite end of the bench-desks. 

Remus caught them looking but Sirius didn’t have the sense to avert his eyes when they were caught. James leaned forward and gave a big wave which only embarrassed the sickly looking boy into putting his head down and hiding his face. An action that caught Lily’s attention and she made a hand gesture at them that got her in trouble with the professor. The meaning went over both of their heads but Sirius got the feeling they should’ve been offended. Especially with the angry face she made that went along with it. 

Class began and after imagining he would learn to set things on fire on the first day, a lecture on wand safety was a colossal letdown. He sat through an introduction on how to hold their wands, correct storage of their wands according to wood type, and a number of school rules dictating the use of magic outside the classroom. What was and wasn’t allowed, what could get them detention versus expulsion. He learned that he wouldn’t even be able to do much of any practical application either against the mantel imps.  
  
Sirius fidgeted nearly the entire lecture, and James shaking his leg only distracted him. So did Remus. The kid looked ready to throw up for most of the class, pale and a little shaky he kept his head down and his arms around his middle. After class let out the pair of friends spent the minutes between classes complaining to each other about how it was a waste of time to sit still for so long and listen to Professor Flitwick ramble on about misfiring wands and unsafe habits. Both boys were thoroughly annoyed for their own reasons but annoyed nonetheless. 

“Why is twirling it so dangerous anyway? What’s the worst that can happen? We don’t even know nonverbal magic.” James took his wand from his bag and tried to spin it between his fingers but dropped it. The wood clattered against the stone floor and Sirius snickered. 

“Dropping it could be bad if you twirl it in a bog. You might lose it forever,” 

“But we’re not in a bog were in a school,” 

Overhead, Peeves appeared from the wall. His loud humming cut short when he spotted the two boys then swooped down without a moment's hesitation to steal Sirius's bag. This was his kind of luck, just walking to class on his first day and already he’s being terrorized a second time by the school's only poltergeist. Of all the students in Hogwarts, he was the one who got singled out. Sirius was not going to take any rubbish so long as he was in these halls. He could deal with it at home, but not here, and not from a dead creep. 

Laughing wildly Peeves tugged and yanked on the strap then began to sing. 

“Furious Sirius wants to belong! But he’s a Black, it’s just plain wrong!” He gave a hard enough pull on the bag Sirius stumbled over his own feet. James lurched to grab the bag strap. And now the both of them were trying to stop Peeves from getting away with Sirius’s bag. 

Students stopped in the hall to watch their epic and loud struggle. Only this time there were no upperclassmen to aid them. A few Ravenclaws murmured between themselves before moving on, fat a lot of good they were. Sirius knew for sure they could've done some sort of banishing charm. The group was no less than a handful of third years, they might have known _something_ useful. 

“Let go!” Sirius kept a grip so tight his hands began to hurt, and when James let go with one hand to point his wand at Peeves, the lot of them jolted. Peeves reeled back with new strength, and they stumbled forward. 

“Go away!” James said. 

Peeves howled out a laugh and rose into the air as high as he could with the two boys trying to stop him, then jutted out his chin haughtily. 

“First year Potter you little rotter. Just pick him up and drown him in water. You’ve got no spells.” His voice went frighteningly menacing. For some reason, the lack of a rhyming end and loss of his sing-song tone made him scarier. Sirius felt a chill run up his back at the way Peeves’s face darkened with a grotesque smile. His mouth stretched to reveal too many teeth and curled unnaturally on the ends. It was a terrifying sight that would visit him in his sleep tonight. 

“Peeves!” An adult’s voice came from the end of the hall. The three of them all turned to see Filch running full speed for them. But before he could even get halfway to them the poltergeist let go sending the pair tumbling to the floor. The nuisance had his fun then swooped away as quickly as he had come. 

James dusted himself off, followed by Sirius getting back onto his feet. A book had fallen out of his bag in the struggle and Sirius picked it up with a grumpy frown. If this became a regular occurrence he had half a mind to learn a few spells ahead of time to keep Peeves at a comfortable distance. 

“You two-!” Filch snapped when he reached them, wagging a finger to tell them they were in for a scolding. Sirius couldn’t care less that they got in trouble, although it was startling to have someone other than his mother give him a stern talking to. Usually, if it wasn’t Walburga yelling at him odds are he wasn’t going to listen. She was the only one who posed a genuine threat, and it’s not like Filch was going to smack him in the middle of the hallway in front of everyone. 

When Filch was done reaming them the man was pink in the face and heaving for air. They were sent on their way to potions class down in the dungeons. Sirius found himself mostly annoyed with the fact that they got in trouble over something that wasn’t their fault, but James, he noticed, was very quiet, and kept his head bowed to hide his flushed cheeks. He sulked the entire way to class, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to guess he doesn’t get yelled at like that very often. Which would _definitely_ change if they carried on being friends. Sirius tends to attract that kind of attention from grown-ups. 

“We didn’t do anything wrong. Why did we get in trouble and not Peeves? That wasn’t fair.” James dropped his bag onto the joint desk then took a seat with a pout and put his chin on his arms. A grumpy furrow to his brow shortened his features. 

“Hey Potter.” James and Sirius both turned, and there stood two Slytherins, one of them was the boy that smelled from the train and another he didn’t recognize. Their name tags pinned to their cloaks read Severus and Hephaestus.

“Yeah?” James said dryly. 

“We heard Filch yelling at you both from down here, what did you do?” Hephaestus asked. 

“Nothing, Peeves tried to steal my bag and Filch got mad at us for making a fuss about it,” Sirius said. 

“Awe did the ickle poltergeist scare you?” Bellatrix stepped out from behind the two. Genuine anger bubbled up inside him when he saw she was giving them a pouty bottom lip and big blinking doe eyes like a baby. The mocking was something he already got too much of whenever she came over for family events. It was infuriating that it followed him to school as well. 

“Shut up, he isn’t scary,” his tolerance for her this year and the years to come would be a testament to his self-restraint. It would be a miracle if they didn’t get into a fight before the semester’s end. 

“Auntie is going to be furious you weren’t sorted into Slytherin. I’ve already sent an owl,” she said. 

“No you haven’t. You’re lying,” he said.  
  
“Am not. She’s probably going to skin you alive over Christmas holiday. I can’t wait to get her letter back. You’re so dead.” Bellatrix laughed in his face and he wanted to hit her. He _really_ wanted to hit her. But Professor Slughorn strolled into the room and waved for everyone to take their seats so the class could begin.  
  
Sirius planted his butt angrily on the stool with a humph and glared daggers at his cousin from across the room, as did James. At least Narcissa ignored him, but Sirius would be remiss if he expected that same courtesy from Bellatrix. Odds are he’ll be dealing with her rubbish for ages. 

Class went by painfully slow and the excitement for flying lessons found him once more as time ticked closer to the end of the hour. The two eagerly watched the clock and were listening at all to the professor’s lecture. Not nearly half as interested in cauldron safety as they were getting their feet off the ground. There were much greater things to come in just a few minutes on the front lawns of the school grounds. When the long hand stuck a half past eleven Sirius packed his rolls of parchment notes and rushed to the door. 

James stopped with one foot in and one foot out of the classroom. Catching Sirius by the hood of his cloak he stopped him from getting away. 

“Wait,” James said. 

“For what? Let’s go.” Sirius tugged at his caught hood to pull James along. 

“Let’s wait for Remus,” 

It was a long wait.  
  
The sluggish kid took several minutes gathering up his things before finally shouldering his bag. Sirius stared at him expectantly, hoping the weight of his gaze would psychically speed him up. He didn’t relent even when Remus spotted them waiting by the door for him and he slowed his approach. 

“I have other classes you know.” Professor Slughorn eyed them as he cleared the chalkboard. Writing out something called ‘Deadman’s Draught’ in messy writing before Remus quietly joined them. They left just as the first of the Hufflepuff sixth years began to arrive to take their seats. 

“We have flying lessons next. If we do a group game you should be in ours.” James said as the three walked up the hall towards the stairs that would lead them from the dungeon. Around them, the cold stone walls were lined with suits of armour and tapestries of famous Slytherin wizards. There was one of Merlin in green robes at the end of the hall. His old watchful eyes beady and narrow underneath a heavy brow and wild white eyebrows. 

“I’m not going to flying lessons today,” Remus said. 

“What? Why not? It’ll be the best class all day and we won’t have another until next Tuesday,” James sounded like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but Sirius took one look at pale faced Remus and considered how he might faint off the edge of the broom if he tried to fly one. He had no colour in his lips or cheeks and sleepless circles hung under his eyes. 

“I have a note from the nurse. I have to miss this week’s lesson,”

“That’s rubbish, what d’you have a nurse’s note for?”

“Are you sick or something? You didn’t look so good in charms this morning.” Sirius leaned to see him from around James as they got up the stairs and Remus pinked in the face just the slightest amount. 

“Yeah,” came Remus’s small answer. Sirius took notice of how soft his voice was and the faint raspy quality. Maybe he had a cold. 

“Are you dying?” James asked. 

“No, I’m not dying. I just don’t feel well.” Remus’s cheeks lost their colour again and he shook his head. 

Sirius made a thoughtful expression and when they came upon the main hall. Both James and Sirius looked to the left that would take them outside to class, then right, to the direction that would lead to the hospital wing. Briefly, he wondered if Remus had eaten something bad at breakfast that could’ve made him so unwell. But then again his uncle Alphard had food poisoning one time at a family dinner and spent the night throwing up with his friend Ewan trying to tend to him. It caused a massive stir at the house as relatives accused one another of bringing spoiled food. Sirius supposed Remus looked nauseated. He wasn’t acting like it though. 

“You could ride on my broom with me, I’m a great flier already. Maybe we could get the professor to let us pair up? All you would have to do is hang on,” James said. 

“A good flier who knocks his own teeth out?” James gave Sirius a sidelong stink eye, but Remus shook his head with a concerned look.  
  
“Oi,” James looked at him insulted. 

“I don’t think so. I’m not allowed on a broom. I’m still sick, remember?” 

“Ugh, fine. We’ll see you at lunch then. Hope you feel better soon,” James said. 

Remus gave them both a nervous glance then nodded with uncertainty. Sirius thought maybe James was being a little too aggressive in his friendship making attempts. If he were to offer assistance rather than demand compliance he might make a better impression and get a more intrepid reaction. As it were, Remus didn’t seem keen on running into them again already. This little conversation more than likely did them no favours. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll find you one way or another. See you in an hour.” James suddenly adopted his cheery attitude again and waved with a smile that showed the tooth he’d knocked out. Remus’s eyes flicked down and Sirius grinned when he saw how Remus noticed what he meant by knocked out teeth.

Out on the green lawn of a courtyard, there were two rows of fifteen brooms laid in the grass with the stick ends facing each other. Everyone set down their bags along the wall before going over to the brooms and admiring them. Murmurs of excitement rose as kids began mimicking flying or expressing their wariness of the things. James tugged on Sirius’s sleeve and pointed at Lily who looked at her broom with an uneasy gaze.  
  
“Come on, let’s go over and stand by her. I can show her how good I am at flying. She might talk to me,”  
  
“Uh- _oh!_ ” Sirius was yanked along by his arm then placed to stand on the other side of James who put himself beside Lily. She was doing a fine job of turning her nose up at James and ignoring him. Sirius was a little impressed at how well she ignored him.  
  
When the second row across from them began filling with students Sirius groaned when he realized they got paired with Slytherin for the second class in a row. He tried to take a page from Lily’s book and ignore his cousins who were vying for the spots they wanted.  
  
James gasped when the professor arrived and grabbed Sirius tightly by the arm.  
  
“McCormack. As in Catriona McCormack, former Pride of Portee quidditch captain. Oh my Merlin, she’s a real live professional quidditch player! You can't be serious!” James said, shaking his arm excitedly. She was an older looking woman with a nice face though her nose was a bit shifted to the left and she had unusually thin lips that narrowed to a slit when she smiled. James wasn’t the only one freaking out. Several other students got up in a fuss and she waved her hands for them to settle down.  
  
“Alright class alright. I know some of you are excited but I’m here to teach you how to fly and that’s just what I’ll do, yes?”  
  
James’s hand shot into the air with about ten others. Sirius couldn’t help but stare at her mouth and how thin it got when she smiled fondly at the over eager students.  
  
“You can all ask your questions later. Hang onto them and let's get started, yes?”  
  
Sirius, much like Lily, wasn’t head over heels to have her as their professor. But James was now extra determined to show off. Both to impress Lily and even more importantly Professor McCormack. 

Class went smoothly and as anticipated, was far more interesting than the first two. The professor even got on a broom as well and demonstrated how they should hold the stick and how to lean to glide forward at a reasonably slow pace to get used to moving without their legs. The two halves of the class glided around only a few feet above the ground with McCormack weaving her way through them all and checking up on those who were struggling.  
  
True to his word, James was _good_. The best in the class. He didn’t need a word of instruction from the professor and flew literal circles around Sirius and the others. He blushed though when he was told to slow down after crashing into a blonde girl who cussed him out when they both fell off their brooms. Sirius thought James might cry when McCormack gave him a stern look and helped him and the girl, Marlene, off the ground. 

At lunch, they sat with Remus as planned, although he kept to himself and left as soon as he finished. 

“Not much for chatting that one,” Sirius said. 

“Not yet,” James replied. 

The next was transfiguration with Ravenclaw, which was another long lecture on safety and classroom procedures. They even had assigned seats which meant Sirius got stuck next to the girl James knocked off her broom. She seemed nice enough and laughed about the accident from earlier. And what’s better, not once did she bring up his last name.  
  


***

Friday came with a new set of classes and even more safety lectures that had Sirius and James groaning between classes in the halls. Neither of them was equipped for such long periods of boredom and took to doodling and passing scraps of parchment to survive the hour. In herbology, after lunch, they got to do something hands on and the entire class of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs perked up. 

They would be pruning taffies. A little plant, the professor explained that excretes a gel from its leaves that can knock an adult unconscious with its smell. Today they would be working with an adolescent variety of the taffy so if they were to get a whiff it wouldn’t be so offensive. They were all given a pair of gardening sheers, old pairs of gloves that reeked of spoiled milk even though the professor assured them the gloves had been washed several times, as well as nose clips. 

“Where’s Remus?” James leaned over to whisper in Sirius’s ear. 

Glancing down the Gryffindor’s side of the table he realized James was right. Remus wasn’t in class.  
  
“The taffy leaf is exceptionally good for teeth whitening and potions like Perished Thoughts, Idlehart, and Deadman’s drought. It can also be used to make an exceptionally bitter tea for divination,” the professor said. 

“Maybe he’s still sick. You heard him yesterday, he was excused from flying,” Sirius whispered back. 

The door to the greenhouse opened as everyone selected their nose pins to block the smell. The class looked over and Remus slunk in with an apology and a note from the nurse for being late. James volunteered to fill him in on what the class was doing and Sirius partnered with Marlene from transfiguration.  
  
The plants were brought out once everyone had their noses pinched but even still the rancid smell of soiled milk made the entier class groan in disgust. When a plant was put in front of Sirius and Marlene the two looked at each other with twisted expressions.  
  
“You do it. I’m not touching that.” Sirius pushed the plant towards her by the pot. Even with gloves on there was no way Sirius was about to get wrist deep in the thick vine-like stems and mucus-covered leaves. Fat globs of a cloudy yellow goop were built up in a thick layer on almost every single leaf.  
  
The professor gave them instructions to prune the leaves that weren’t covered in mucus, according to the professor if a leaf wasn’t slimy and smelly it wasn’t healthy. The gloves they were given were to protect their hands when they reached in between the slimy ones. 

From where James and Remus were working there was a squabble growing in volume that led to James trying to grab the taffy plant away from him and knocked the pin off his nose. A few Hufflepuffs gasped and one of the girls tried to give Remus an extra. Sirius looked up just in time to see Remus pass out from the smell.  
  
“Ah, there goes the first one,” the professor said calmly as though she had been waiting for it to happen. 

On Saturday they didn’t have classes. It was the first weekend of the year, and James tried to ambush Remus in the morning to plan a day of fun but the bed was empty. 

“Where d’you suppose he’s gone to so early?” James asked. 

“Haven’t the foggiest. He’s probably somewhere far away from you. I don’t think he likes you very much after herbology yesterday,” Sirius sat hunched over his charms book flipping through the later chapters. 

“I told him not to grab the taffy leaves like that or he would get the smell all over his hands. He hadn’t put on his gloves,” 

“And instead he spent the rest of the day with the nurse when he’s already sick. Good on you mate for making his condition worse. You’ve probably killed him.” He flipped another few pages. 

“Yeah right,” James glanced off to the side in panic before shaking his head then turning his attention back on Sirius.

“What are you doin’?”

“Trying to find that spell the girl used to blast Peeves away. I don’t think you could handle another scolding from Filch if we get in a fight with him again.” James pinked in the cheeks then helped him look. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> questions, comments, concerns? drop a comment and share your thoughts! 
> 
> comments and kudos expecto my patronum if you know what i mean
> 
> -Quillnib

**Author's Note:**

> Comments an kudos stir my cauldron 
> 
> Questions and suggestions are always welcome! Please be kind with your words. 😌
> 
> -QuillNib


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